Press statements and answers to journalists’ questions following Russian-Italian talks
May 17, 2017
14:40
Sochi
Press statements and answers to journalists’ questions following Russian-Italian talks. With Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen,
I want to start by noting our increasingly frequent meetings with our Italian partners and friends. Last month, we received President Sergio Mattarella in Moscow, and today, we had substantive and productive talks with Italian Prime Minister Mr Gentiloni.
Italy has traditionally been one of Russia’s major partners and our countries seek to build constructive relations based on equality and respect for each other’s interests.
We discussed the whole range of cooperation areas during the talks today, and outlined concrete plans for further development. We gave priority attention to promising areas for economic development.
See also
Meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni
May 17, 2017
Italy is one of Russia’s major trade partners. Our bilateral trade came to around $20 billion last year. Of course, as a result of the circumstances we know, this figure is considerably lower than the peak figure we had in 2013, but we do have grounds for hope because we saw bilateral trade growth of close to 30 percent at the start of this year.
It is very good to see that reciprocal investment remains at a high level. Italian investment in the Russian economy comes to more than $1 billion, and Russian investment in Italy comes to $2.4 billion.
I am sure that the implementation of the roadmap adopted last year on trade and investment cooperation will contribute to deepening business ties, as will the recent Italian government decision to select Russia as a target country for stepping up economic cooperation.
We invited Italian businesspeople to take part in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that opens on June 1. I remind you that last year, we signed around 20 inter-corporate agreements for a total of $1.3 billion with Italy alone.
Of course, we discussed promising cooperation areas, including energy. Russia is Italy’s biggest natural gas supplier, covering 43 percent of its gas demand. We have agreed to continue developing our effective cooperation in this area.
We hope that Italian companies will take part in promising work to produce hydrocarbons and in projects to diversify Russian energy supplies to Europe. I am referring here to the construction of new mainline gas pipelines, in particular, along the southern route. In this respect, I note the cooperation agreement just signed between Rosneft and ENI.
We work together with good results in industry, science, and high-tech sectors.
I must mention too our productive cooperation in manned space flights. In two months’ time, an international team will fly to the International Space Station, with an Italian citizen among its members, Paolo Nespoli, as astronaut from the European Space Agency. This will be his second flight to the station.
Traditionally close ties in culture and tourism are one of the distinguishing features of our bilateral cooperation.
Italy is a very popular destination among Russian tourists. In 2016, 710,000 people from Russia visited Italy. We expect to see growing numbers of Italians visiting Russia too. Specialised tourism offices have opened in Rome and Milan, and this has already helped to boost the number of Italian tourists coming to Russia.
Our two countries’ museums are expanding their contacts. The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow is currently holding an exhibition of Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico, and in June, the State Hermitage in St Petersburg will hold a unique exhibition of historic artefacts from the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Turin. In autumn, Days of Moscow will take place in Milan, Genoa, and Venice, and next year, the Russian Seasons will take place in Italy.
We discussed current issues on the international and regional agendas, of course, and looked at the crisis situations in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and on the Korean Peninsula.
Russia and Italy support joint efforts by the international community to act against today’s greatest threat – international terrorism.
Overall, we agreed to continue deepening our foreign policy coordination. This is particularly relevant now, with Italy holding a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and set to preside in the OSCE in 2018.
We discussed Russia’s relations with the European Union. It is not at all possible to call them normal right now, and we must try to avoid excessive politicisation and restore a constructive spirit for cooperation.
I am sure that greater economic cooperation between Russia and European countries and direct ties between the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU would help to strengthen trust across the entire Eurasian region.
I want to conclude by thanking Mr Gentiloni and all of our Italian friends and colleagues for this substantive and useful exchange of views. I am sure that the agreements we reached today will contribute to further all-round development of our bilateral ties.
Thank you for your attention.
Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni (retranslated): I thank President Putin for the warm welcome in Sochi and our important talks, which will continue during our working lunch.
Bilateral relations are, of course, at the centre of our talks. We have always tried to maintain – even in the most difficult times, which may already be a thing of the past – the trust of Italian companies in the Russian market and the Russian business community. Our companies have always had trust in that country. I think it was the right choice, because the recent developments prove that following the difficult times – which were due to a variety of reasons – that the Italian and the Russian economies went through, today we can see positive signs of resumed trade exchanges between our countries.
Approximately 600 Italian companies are operating in Russia. The volume of trade remains an important issue, and, as the President mentioned, we saw new signs of it being restored in recent months. However, the data looks fairly positive against the background of Italy’s overall foreign trade. In terms of exports [to Russia], the Italian economy has reached a level unseen in the past seven years. Our companies prove that there is renewed interest in the Russian market (Astaldi, ENI, Tecnimont, and others). This is evidenced by the agreements that we signed today.
Prime Minister Renzi attended the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last year. This year, too, the forum remains an important event for our system. It will be attended by general directors of major Italian companies and an important Italian government delegation.
Keeping these economic relations in mind, I would like to mention another important and symbolic thing, which is our gratitude to Rosneft for giving the Marche region 5 million [euros] to rebuild a hospital after last year's earthquake.
We touched upon key international issues in our conversations as well. From my perspective, as the G7 chairman, I find it very important to understand President Putin’s viewpoint on these issues.
I think that there are opportunities for cooperation in fighting terrorism, and responding to regional crises. I'm talking about Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan, where Italy and Russia (and the international community in general) can and should cooperate. There are common threats, and I think that we should join efforts as we try to respond to them. Some threats are quite serious, such as, primarily, Libya. I think that we are doing well in this arena as well.
Finally, in recent years, Italy has been supporting an open dialogue between Russia and the European Union. Of course, this strategic partnership should not be suspended because of the crisis involving Ukraine. I think that all the paths for working within this partnership, including the partnership with the Eurasian Economic Union, should remain open. Therefore, I once again thank President Putin for the warm welcome in Sochi...
Meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni
Vladimir Putin held talks with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Key aspects of bilateral cooperation and current international affairs were the main subjects of discussion.
May 17, 2017
14:10
Sochi
With Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni.
A number of agreements on cooperation were signed following the talks.
Mr Putin and Mr Gentiloni witnessed the signing of:
An agreement between Rosneft and ENI on expanding cooperation in production, processing, marketing and trading;
An agreement between Rosneft and Tecnoclima on cooperation in supplies, modernisation, and servicing heating and ventilation systems for drilling installations;
A production cooperation agreement between Rosneft and Pietro Fiorentini;
An agreement between the Russian Direct Investment Fund, State Company Russian Highways, Italian state company ANAS S.p.A and ANAS International Enterprise S.p.A on investment and technology cooperation on public-private partnership projects in the road sector in Russia.
Other agreements signed following the talks include a cooperation agreement between Rosneft, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), and the Polytechnic University of Turin, and an agreement between Rosneft, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, and the Polytechnic University of Turin.
Mr Putin and Mr Gentiloni made press statements and answered journalists’ questions.
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Beginning of meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister, friends,
Let me greet you again and welcome you to Russia this time. We met just recently in China. It is a great pleasure to see you again.
During your time as foreign minister, you visited Russia often as head of the intergovernmental commission. Regrettably, we have seen a drop in our trade, but the moment you became prime minister, our bilateral trade began to grow again and was up 28 percent over the first two months of this year.
See also
Press statements and answers to journalists’ questions following Russian-Italian talks
May 17, 2017
We have very intensive contacts at the political level. Italy holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. We are very pleased to have this chance to have a calm exchange of views on everything I mentioned during your working visit.
Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni (retranslated): Thank you, Mr President,
I am very pleased to have this chance to meet with you and discuss matters concerning Russian-Italian relations, which I personally consider very successful, even excellent relations, and to discuss very sensitive matters pertaining to the international situation.
I am not sure that the achievement you spoke of can be credited to our council on bilateral economic and financial cooperation, but I do agree with you that we are seeing substantial growth in our economic relations.
Given that Italy currently holds the G7 presidency, this is also an opportunity for me to meet with Mr Putin to discuss current matters on the eve of the summit in Taormina, which will take place in 10 days’ time.
In short, we have plenty to discuss, whether bilateral cooperation or the international situation. Mr President, I thank you once again for this opportunity to meet.
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