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Putin, Renzi to discuss Russia-Italy cooperation on sidelines of SPIEF — Kremlin

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Russian President Vladimir Putin (archive) Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Russian President Vladimir Putin (archive)
© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on June 17 on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries; a number of documents are expected to be signed in their presence, Russian president’s aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday.

According to the Kremlin aide, the meeting will take place after the forum’s main plenary session they are expected to speak at.

"After that, we will proceed to the Italian part of the forum. First, Putin will have a meeting with Renzi to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation and international topics. Later on, we will have Russia-Italian talks in the format of a working lunch where representatives of business circles of the two countries will be invited," Ushakov said, adding that the talks are expected to yield a number of bilateral documents that will be signed in the presence of the two leaders. There will be about seven or eight such documents, including agreements involcing Rosneft, Novatek, Eni, Saipem, Russian Post, he noted.

After the talks and the working lunch, Putin and Renzi "will proceed to the specially established Italian pavilion," the Kremlin aide said, adding that after an excursion around the pavilion the ceremony of signing bilateral documents will be held and the two leaders will give a joint news conference.

"The two leaders maintain confidential and friendly relations and openly discuss the most complicated topics," Ushakov said, adding that such topics include cooperation in countering international terrorism, in particular Islamic State, and on issues of political settlement in Syria and Libya. "It is planned to raise subjects of Russia-Italy cooperation in countering international terrorism, in particular, Islamic State, and issues of political settlement in Syria and Libya," he said.

Ushakov also said that the two countries plan a number of events by the yearend as part of bilateral cooperation programs. Thus, a regular meeting of the Russian-Italian intergovernmental commission in planned to be held this autumn in Italy. Apart from that, the sides agreed to organize a session of the council for economic, industrial, currency and financial cooperation in Italy on October 5. This will be the first meeting of the council, co-chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, in the past four years.