ON RUSSO-ITALIAN RELATIONS

Italy was one of the first countries to recognize Russia as successor to the USSR.

The official visit of the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, to Rome on December 19 - 20, 1991, became a new landmark in the evolution of relations between Russia and Italy. The joint declaration on the fundamentals of bilateral relations, a culture protocol, a declaration on cooperation in defense conversion and several other economic instruments laid a solid groundwork for a steady development of Russo- Italian relations.

The Italian President, Francesco Cossiga, paid a return visit to Russia in 1992. After meeting his Russian opposite number, Boris Yeltsin, the political dialogue assumed more substance.

The Russo-ltalian summit talks helped the countries conceive new elements of partnership and formalise them in a treaty on friendship and cooperation, initialled during the visit of the Italian foreign minister, Emilio Colombo, to Moscow in November 1992.

That document, based on the 1990 inter-state agreement, highlighted issues of cooperation in security, defense conversion and information areas. The broad-visioned document mentioned, for the first time, the need to link Russia to regional and sub-regional cooperation networks. A special provision called for an inter-governmental council on economic, industrial and monetary cooperation.

On January 27 - 29, 1994, Russian Prime Minister, Victor Chernomyrdin, visited Italy to sign a number of documents, including a memorandum of intent concerning an agreement to encourage and protect capital investment between the two governments and another government agreement on the status of Russian cemeteries in Italy and Italian military graves in Russia dating back to World War 11. Mr Chernomyrdin's talks focused on the need to transform the G-7 into a G-8, starting with the Naples meeting. The Italian party advocated greater links with Russia in the near future and indicated its preparedness to nudge its partners towards closer interaction too.

Italian leaders committed themselves to campaigning for the Russian specifics in international economic and monetary organizations.

On June 20, 1994, Victor Chernomyrdin invited his Italian opposite number, Sylvio Berlusconi, to visit Russia and sign a treaty on friendship and cooperation.

The foreign ministers of the two countries have already met twice this year, maintaining a good tradition of regular chats.

Russo-ltalian political dialogue is marked by its highly businesslike and specific nature. It incorporates a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from the Yugoslav settlement to nuclear non- proliferation. Military-political cooperation is evolving alongside other areas. Italy has given Russia 7.5 million dollars for the procurement of equipment to dismantle Russian nuclear munitions. The first contracts in defense conversion have been inked. In October 1992 Italy expressed its readiness to help Russia comply with the chemical warfare convention.

In the economic cooperation area, Italy is the second-largest European partner of Russia, outstripped by Germany only. In 1993 bilateral trade turnover totalled 3,735 million dollars (2,629 million dollars in export and 1,106 million dollars in import). Russia accounts for 84% of Italy's trade with the ex-USSR. Russia's exports to Italy are primarily composed of energy sources (gas, oil, petroleum products), timber and ferrous metals, and imports of machinery, equipment, chemicals, piping, rolled stock, textiles, foodstuffs and staples. In the same year the two countries signed an agreement on a 1.9-billion dollars energy project, named Gazprom-ENI, envisaging modernization of Russian gas pipelines.

On April 18 - 20, 1994, the Italian Minister of Treasury took part in the EBRD conference in St.Petersburg. A Russian government delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Shokhin, visited Milan on April 29 - 30 to participate in the world economic forum.

Russo-ltalian cultural links are evolving rapidly, stemming from the 1960 framework agreement and several other official instruments, setting a basis for cooperation of museums (Hermitage and Uffici), moviemakers, youth exchanges and protection of cultural landmarks. The Mariinsky ballet company came to Italy on a tour in 1993, followed by several exhibitions the Kremlin Treasures, Italy Seen by Russian Painters (19th century pieces), Central Asian Treasures, etc. A bilateral programme of cooperation in the field of culture for 1994 - 1996 was signed in April 1994.

Relations between Russia and Italy may set an example for relations with other Western partners. Russia appreciates the effort undertaken by Italy, which hosts the summit in Naples, to launch fully fledged cooperation between Russia and the G-7 and the emergence of a political G-8.

Source: Russian Information Agency "Novosti"

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