Letta and Putin talk business at Trieste summit
(By Christopher Livesay) (ANSA) – Trieste, November 26 – Deals between energy firms, banks and manufacturers in Italy and Russia were signed Tuesday in a day of meetings between Italian Premier Enrico Letta and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 28 commercial agreements included pacts between Italian energy companies Enel and Eni with Russia’s Rosneft; Eni with natural gas producer Novatek; while other agreements involved Mediobanca, Fincantieri and tire manufacturer Pirelli.
“In the energy sector we have had an important exchange…and need to continue this work,” said Letta. A joint investment fund holding one billion euros was also established. Putin noted that Italy is Russia’s fourth-largest trading partner with commercial exchanges worth more than $50 billion annually.
The Russian leader has been holding two days of meetings with officials including Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Meanwhile, seven intergovernmental accords, including an arrangement between the two countries’ postal services, and a cultural agreement were also reached. Letta and Putin also discussed how to “strengthen the political partnership” between the two nations, added Letta during a news conference, pointing to an agreement to loosen the strictures surrounding tourism visas for Russians in Italy. “The bureaucracy around visas is one of the biggest limits Russian tourists face in Italy,” said Letta. Strengthening rights in civil society was also on the agenda and will be pressed when Italy assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2014, Letta added. Outside the summit, banner-waving gay-rights activists in the hundreds were protesting Putin’s visit. “There’s a cold and violent wind coming from the East, a wind of repression and silence for human rights,” said veteran gay-rights campaigner and former Italian lawmaker Vladimir Luxuria, Italy’s first transgender MP. “Trieste must remain an open door to dialogue and not to repression,” Luxuria told protesters. Russia has triggered loud criticism since it adopted a ban on homosexual “propaganda” among minors in June, which opponents say turns rights on free speech and assembly backwards. “Human rights can’t be sold off in bilateral deals,” added Luxuria. “It’s okay to talk about the economy, but we must lift the veil of silence on dissent that exists in Russia and other Eastern European countries. “I hope for a civil society that makes human rights a focal point”.
The protest was the second to meet Putin since touching down in Rome Monday. At various stops in the capital, including outside the Vatican and the premier’s office, Greenpeace protesters called on the Russian leader to drop hooliganism charges against the co-called ‘Arctic 30’ activists who staged a demonstration at a Russian Arctic offshore platform in September.