VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Relations between Russia and Italy have a rich history spanning many centuries and reveal many common elements of cultural and intellectual heritage. After the unification of Italy in 1861 into a nation state, Russia recognized it as early as 1862.
In 1921 Italy accorded a de facto recognition of the RSFSR and then in 1924 established diplomatic relations with the USSR de jure.
Diplomatic relations were severed after Italy declared war on the USSR on June 22, 1941 on the side of Nazi Germany, but were restored in 1944.
In 1974 Italy became one of the first Western countries to sign a long-term gas supply agreement with the USSR. In 1991 Italy recognized Russia as the successor to the USSR.
Italy is one of the closest partners of the Russian Federation in Europe with which it has intensive cooperation practically in all areas. Russia and Italy have close or consonant positions on most issues in world affairs, are engaged in an intensive political dialogue and actively interacting in international organisations and mechanisms.
The main principles of bilateral relations are reflected in the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Italian Republic of October 14, 1994 and in the Action Plan in the Relations between the Russian Federation and the Italian Republic of February 10, 1998. A solid basis of intergovernmental and interagency agreements in various spheres of bilateral cooperation has been formed and continues to expand.
Since 2002 there has been a direct communication link between the Kremlin and the Chigi Palace (the official residence of the Italian Prime Minister).
Since 2002 there has been a practice in Russian-Italian relations of holding enlarged intergovernmental consultations involving key ministers of the two countries in the framework of summits. Five meetings in this format have been held, the last on November 6, 2008 in Moscow as part of the working visit to Russia by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Political dialogue between the two countries has been exceedingly intense. In 2007 three meetings between the President of the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic were held. On April 18, 2008 the President of the Russian Federation paid a working visit to Italy at the invitation of the leader of the centre-right bloc, the People of Freedom, Silvio Berlusconi, who won an early parliamentary election on April 13-14, 2008. From July 16 to 18, 2008 the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano paid a state visit to Russia.
March 1, 2009 saw a visit to the city of Bari (Italy) made by President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev where, in the presence of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, an architectural complex of the Russian Orthodox Church was handed over to Russia.
In addition to active dialogue at the summit level, intensive contacts are maintained between legislative, executive and judiciary organs of power. The Grand Russian-Italian Parliamentary Commission has been active since 2000.
Successful development of bilateral relations rests on a solid economic foundation. Italy is the 4th largest trading partner of Russia after Germany, the Netherlands and China. According to results from 2008 bilateral trade amounted to $52.9 billion, of which Russian exports accounted for $41.9 billion and imports from Italy for about $11 billion.
The main issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation are addressed by the Russian-Italian Council on Economic, Industrial and Monetary Cooperation, which was established in 1999. The 10th Session of the Economic Council was held in Rome on February 16, 2009 and was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Kudrin, and the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
In recent years high technology and the space industry have emerged as priority areas of bilateral cooperation. An additional impetus to cooperation in this sphere came from the Agreement on Cooperation in the Exploration and Peaceful Use of Outer Space of November 28, 2000, which came into force on August 24, 2004. In April 2005 the Italian cosmonaut Roberto Vittori made a spaceflight to the ISS on board the Russian Soyuz spaceship. The Italian company Alenia Aeronautica has become a strategic partner of Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft on the project to build a Russian regional plane, Superjet 100.
In the economic sphere, energy has traditionally spearheaded bilateral interaction. In April 2007 the ENI concern acquired the gas assets of Urengoil and Arktikgaz to gain direct access to the development of gas fields in Russia. In turn, under existing agreements Gazprom has been able to work in the internal Italian market. Cooperation between Gazprom and ENI on building a gas transportation system from Russia to Southern Europe under the Black Sea (the South Stream project) is making headway. In the power industry, the Italian energy concern Enel is active, having acquired 49.5% of Rusenergosbyt in 2006 and holding a controlling stake (nearly 70%) of the company OGK-5.
Cooperation is increasing on creating in Russia industrial areas using Italian expertise, an initiative put forward by Silvio Berlusconi in 2002. At present 17 Russian regions are involved in this project. In November 2005 the first industrial area in Lipetsk was awarded the status of a special economic zone.
Interregional ties occupy an important place in bilateral relations. More than 40 agreements between Italian and Russian regions have been signed and are being implemented.
Russia and Italy actively cooperate in the military-political and military-technical fields under an intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation on Military-Technical Issues and in the Defence Industry field of November 14, 1996. In September 2004 and January 2008 joint Russo-Italian naval exercises were held in the Mediterranean.
Cooperation in emergency response received a powerful impetus when Italy showed an unprecedented degree of solidarity in connection with the terrorist attack in Beslan. The Italian Government was the first among foreign states to send relief aid to overcome the aftermath of the tragedy. On November 17, 2006 the Children's Rehabilitation Centre, constructed, equipped and funded entirely by the Italian Government, was opened. Italy is also financing some other healthcare modernization projects in Beslan and Vladikavkaz.
Cooperation in the humanitarian-cultural sphere is one of the most important elements of bilateral relations. The top-level consultations between Dmitry Medvedev and Silvio Berlusconi in Moscow on November 6, 2008 approved the initiative of the two Culture Ministers to hold the Year of Russian Culture and Russian Language in Italy and the Year of Italian Culture and Italian Language in Russia in 2011.
In 2003 a joint decoration of the President of the Russian Federation and the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic for personal contribution to the development of friendship and cooperation between Russia and Italy was instituted. The first holders were the director of the Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum, Irina Antonova, and the Italian director Franco Zeffirelli.
RUSSIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS
The history of interstate Russian-Turkish contacts begins in 1992. Diplomatic relations between Soviet Russia and the Republican Government of Turkey were established in 1920, before the proclamation of the Turkish Republic (October 29, 1923).
In the modern era, political links between Russia and Turkey are based on the Treaty on the Basic Principles of Relations of 1992 and the system of intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in various spheres. The Joint Political Declaration adopted in December 2004 after the visit to Turkey by Vladimir Putin set the task of elevating bilateral relations to the level of advanced diversified partnership.
The recent years have seen the development of an intensive political dialogue between the two countries at the summit level. Since December 2004 the leaders of Russia and Turkey have met 11 times (the latest meeting between Vladimir Putin and the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took place within the framework of the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 29, 2008). From February 12 to 14, 2009 the Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a state visit to Russia; from the results of the visit a Joint Declaration on Advancement Towards a New Stage of Relations between the Russian Federation and the Turkish Republic and Further Deepening of Friendship and Many-Sided Partnership was signed. The leaders of the two countries regularly discuss by telephone various aspects of bilateral relations, topical regional and international issues.
Functional contacts are maintained between the leading security-related and economic ministries and agencies. The permanent mechanism of consultations between the two foreign ministries covers an exceptionally broad range of topics; its results are summarised by the High-Level Joint Group co-chaired by the deputy foreign ministers of the two countries (the last meeting was held in Ankara in April 2008).
Parliamentary dialogue is developing. From July 10 to 13, 2006, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Bulent Arinc paid an official visit to Russia and held negotiations with the Speakers of the Federation Council and the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and a talk with Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Zhukov. From March 26 to 27, 2007, Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia Sergei Mironov paid a return visit to Turkey.
Trade and economic links between Russia and Turkey are developing on the basis of a broad legal treaty framework that comprises intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in a number of areas. At the regional level the most active economic relations with Turkey are pursued by the Republic of Tatarstan, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Moscow and the Moscow Region, the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, the Rostov Region and the republics of the North Caucasus.
In 2008 mutual trade amounted to $33.8 billion (up 49% on 2007). This outcome exceeds the target of $25 billion in 2008 set by the leaders of the two countries. Among the foreign trade partners of Turkey, Russia became number one, displacing Germany, in 2008. In Russia's foreign trade Turkey is in fifth place ahead of such countries as Japan, the United States and Britain.
The bilateral trade balance is in Russia's favour, exceeding $21.6 billion in 2008. The Turks partly compensate for the imbalance by revenues from "shuttle trade," tourism, remittances of its construction firms and physical persons, as well as road haulage across Russian territory (a total of about $6 billion, according to expert estimates).
Russian exports are dominated by energy (more than 70%), metals and metal goods (20%), while imports from Turkey are directed by machines, equipment and transport means (over 30%), consumer goods (13%-15%) and foodstuffs (15%-20%).
The total volume of Turkish investments in Russia is estimated by experts at $6 billion (mainly direct investments). Enterprises with Turkish capital exist in such sectors as electronics (television sets and domestic appliances), building materials, household chemicals, textiles, glass and glassware, food products (beer), as well as in the services: retailing, tourism and finance (5 banks).
The total volume of Russian investments in Turkey (about $4 billion) increased several times after the implementation in late 2005 of a contract between the Russian Alfa Group and the Cukurova Holding to acquire 13.2% of the largest Turkish mobile phone operator Turkcell (worth $3.3 billion). In July 2008 Lukoil bought Akpet, a major Turkish operator of petrol filling stations (693 pumps and other infrastructure), for $555 million.
Approximately 150 Turkish construction companies are currently operating in Russia. From the late 1980s until the present day, they have built more than 800 project installations in Russia, signed over $20 billion worth of contracts and provided more than $12 billion worth of services. The most significant projects currently underway are the building of Sheremetyevo-3 airport terminal, four thermal power plants (two 170-megawatt plants in Moscow and two 800-megawatt plants in Surgut), a generator for the Shatura Thermal Power Plant and some buildings under the Moscow-City project.
Projects to build glass container factories in Novosibirsk and in the Krasnodar Territory (worth a total of about 200 million euros), a metallurgical plant in the Rostov Region ($130 million), production of rugs and carpets in Rostov-on-Don (680 million roubles), assembly of agricultural machinery in the Krasnodar Territory are soon to be launched.
The presence of Russian contractors in Turkey is less noticeable; the total amount of services they rendered is put at some $400 million. The situation may be corrected by the participation in such ongoing projects as modernisation of the metallurgical plant in Iskenderun (worth $1.7 billion), the hydroelectric plants Derimer and Torul, the gas distribution station Sivas, the hydrotechnical tunnel under the Bosphorus strait (Marmaray project), gas pipelines and bridges.
Since 1987 Turkey has been a buyer of Russian natural gas. In 2008 it bought 24.5 billion cubic metres (compared with 23.5 billion cubic metres in 2007) of which 10.5 billion cubic metres was delivered via the Blue Stream pipeline. In 2009 Gazprom is prepared to increase supplies via the said pipeline to 14 billion cubic metres.
Tourism is a burgeoning area of cooperation. In recent years, at least 2 million Russians have visited Turkey every year (about 2.5 million people in 11 months of 2008).
To develop and coordinate bilateral trade and economic cooperation, a Joint Intergovernmental Russian-Turkish Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was created in 1992. Its Russian co-chair is Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Khristenko (since July 2004), with the Turkish co-chair, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Guler (from October 2007).
The Commission has 5 joint working groups (trade, investments, contractual services and legal and treaty basis; energy; transport; industry, high technology and small and medium-size enterprises; and tourism). The latest, eighth meeting of the IGC took place on May 27-28, 2008 in Moscow.
In the late 1980s, for the purpose of establishing and promoting direct business ties between Russian and Turkish regions, a Russian-Turkish Business Council (operating under the aegis of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2004) and the Turkish-Russian Business Council under the Turkish Committee for Foreign Economic Ties were formed. Taking part in their activities are more than 40 Russian regions, and more than 150 Turkish companies and firms. A joint meeting of the Business Councils was held in Moscow on September 26, 2007.
