Italy to help Russia, EU restart dialogue "PM Conte"

Italy hopes that Russia and the European Union restart dialogue and will do its utmost to achieve this goal, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

"We should continue to develop dialogue with Russia. [Relations] should improve not between Italy and Russia - as they are good - but between the European Union and Russia," the Italian prime minister said.

"Italy seeks to promote a more full-fledged strategy that engages all European partners," Conte said. "By doing so, we all can catch up with these recent years, as the 25-year-long dialogue has stopped. We must try to restart dialogue and to restore bilateral cooperation," he stressed. "We want to help Russia, but if we do this alone, it is not enough, we want to engage all the partners."

Conte also said that his meeting with Putin was productive. "I am very delighted at this visit. I was met warmly and with enormous hospitality. I must say that the meeting was fruitful and a friendship was born now," Conte noted.

"We spent lots of hours together speaking on various topics - about foreign and domestic policy, bilateral relations. It was a truly fruitful meeting," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Italian prime minister had held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin focusing on international and bilateral issues. Thirteen agreements were signed on the sidelines of the meeting.