MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2020) Russia is ready to assist Italian businesses in production cooperation with an emphasis on production being located on Russian territory, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Italian La Stampa daily.
"We know that in Italy there are more and more calls for returning to the previous level of bilateral relations. Interest is being expressed in building Russian-EU dialogue on a pragmatic, mutually beneficial, non-confrontational basis. Of course, we welcome this attitude," Lavrov said.
He added that sanctions are having a negative impact on Russian-Italian relations with trade between the two countries having gone down from $53.8 billion in 2013 to 26.9 billion in 2018.
"Italian entrepreneurs who are firmly determined to continue working in our country are very concerned about the current state of affairs. On our part, we are ready to assist your companies in the transition from predominantly deliveries of products made in Italy to the Russian market to production cooperation on the principle of 'made with Italy' with an emphasis on the localization of production in Russia," Lavrov told La Stampa.
There are currently about 500 Italian companies working in Russia, in different areas, including food and processing industries, innovations and information technologies, production of building materials.
