Official website of the President of Russia

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President Vladimir Putin: Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear colleagues and friends,

Allow me once more to welcome you to the Moscow Kremlin.

The Prime Minister and I had the opportunity to exchange views on practically all bilateral cooperation issues and on the most pressing, key, questions of international life. Our common approach will be reflected in the Joint Statement of the President of the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister of Italy.

We both agree that we need to work actively together on issues such as the fight against terrorism. We intend to develop our economic ties. We discussed our cooperation in the energy sector and in high-technology areas such as the aviation-space sector, radio communications and shipbuilding.

I would note here that we received new opportunities for cooperation in space after the Intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation in the Use and Exploration of Space for Peaceful Purposes came into force in August of this year.

I note with satisfaction that a great number of the agreements reached with the Italian Prime Minister are being implemented.

I am thinking here of the diversification of our economic ties, the development of our humanitarian contacts and creation of conditions that will enable the development of contact between people.

We have signed an agreement simplifying visa procedures for Russian and Italian citizens, agreements on holding language and culture weeks in Russian and Italian schools and on completion of work to set up a Russian-Italian forum – Dialogue Between Civil Societies. I think that we will hear more specific and detailed information today from our colleagues, the heads of the ministries concerned. Once again, I welcome you here and I would now like to give the floor to my colleague, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Italy.

Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi: Thank you, Mr President, for your warm words and thank you for the excellent hospitality you have shown us, on this occasion and on the previous occasions we have come here.

Thank you also for mentioning that many of the projects, the beginning of which we discussed at our joint talks, are now underway. Many of them are now in the complete implementation phase.

I can say that the climate of our relations is indeed positive. There is every reason to affirm that our bilateral cooperation is set on a path of continued development. I think the same can be said of our cooperation on international issues. The talks that we just ended a few minutes ago show that we share the same views on many issues. This means we have all the necessary conditions for closer and more fruitful relations between our governments and our two peoples.

I am sure that our ministers have worked together just as fruitfully as we have, and they can now tell us about the results of their work.