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
Italy is Russia's fourth largest trade and economic partner in terms of total bilateral trade. Russia's main exports to Italy are fuel and energy, including crude oil, petroleum and natural gas. These commodities account for 88% of the total value of exports to Italy. Italy is the third largest consumer of Russian gas in Europe, after Germany and the United Kingdom.
Italy's exports to Russia are dominated by machinery and equipment (45%) and consumer goods (30%).
Due to the global financial and economic crisis, bilateral trade declined throughout 2009, totaling $32.9 billion, or 62.2% of 2008's volume ($52.9 billion).
Russian exports to Italy totaled $25 billion in 2009 and $42 billion in 2008, respectively.
In an effort to cope with the negative financial and economic situation, both parties took a number of steps to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation. On April 5-9, 2009, a massive Italian business delegation of nearly 900 entrepreneurs from 500 major companies, small and medium businesses visited Russia in order to streamline direct contact with Russian business partners.
The delegation toured Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. A number of major agreements and contracts were signed during the trip.
In October 2009, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in St. Petersburg. Mr Putin and Mr Berlusconi met with corporate CEOs from major Russian companies actively involved in Russian-Italian economic cooperation.
On December 3, 2009, Rome hosted the sixth round of extended top-level Russian-Italian inter-governmental consultations, chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev and Silvio Berlusconi. The consultations involved national ministers of foreign affairs, finance, justice, culture, education and science, transport, industry and trade. A large package of inter-governmental, inter-departmental and inter-corporate agreements in education, tourism, the energy sector, space exploration and the chemical industry was signed after the summit.
The fuel and energy sector shows the most rapidly expanding area of cooperation. South Stream, a proposed gas pipeline to transport Russian natural gas via the Black Sea to Bulgaria and on to Italy and Austria, is the most ambitious initiative. On May 15, 2009, Russian energy giant Gazprom and Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni signed an addendum to the memorandum on the subsequent steps to implement the South Stream project in the presence of Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi. Under the addendum, the annual throughput capacity of the pipeline's offshore section is to increase from 31 billion cu. m. to 63 billion cu. m. In August 2009, Mr Putin and Mr Berlusconi met in Ankara, Turkey, to discuss the implementation of South Stream in great detail.
On October 19, 2009, construction of the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline linking Turkey's Samsun port on the Black Sea coast and its Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean coast was also examined after a trilateral Russian-Italian-Turkish meeting in Milan. There are plans to cooperate on the pipeline that will transport Russian oil. Kazakhstan could also become involved in the project. A joint statement stipulating the signing of the relevant trilateral inter-governmental memorandum was signed.
Russian-Italian cooperation, which is not confined to the fuel and energy sector, continues to expand in the high-tech area, including the aerospace sector, aircraft construction, the development of railway transport, telecommunications, the modernisation of the post network, etc.
Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi Corporation and Italy's aerospace company Alenia Aeronautica started jointly assembling Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) 100, the medium-haul airliner, which was successfully demonstrated at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on April 7, 2009. That same day, both parties announced they had closed a $201 million deal on purchasing a 25% stake (plus one share) in Sukhoi by Alenia Aeronautica.
Sukhoi Corporation has started conducting flight certification tests and is preparing to launch commercial production of the SSJ aircraft. Over 10 airliners have been ordered to date, with the first planes scheduled to be delivered by late 2010.
A railway transport cooperation agreement was signed between Russian Railways and Finmeccanica, an Italian industrial conglomerate, in Bari, Italy, on March 2007.
The document stipulates the collaborative designing and production of a new Class 72 high-speed inter-city electric train with a maximum speed of 160 kph. There are also plans to modernise the traffic-safety system and to develop digital radio telecommunications networks for the railway-transport sector. The manufacture of light-rail rolling stock using Finmeccanica's technology and St. Petersburg production facilities is another cooperative venture envisaged after the December 3, 2009 inter-state consultations in Rome.
There is also expanding cooperation in the helicopter industry. There is currently work in progress to establish a joint venture on parity terms, due to assemble new generation medium twin-turbine helicopters Agusta Westland AW-139 in Russia under an Italian license and arrange for their servicing. The helicopter-assembly plant will be set up in Tomilino near Moscow.
Cooperation in the automotive industry also continues to expand. On February 1, 2010, Russian carmaker Sollers and Italian automotive giant FIAT announced the creation of a global alliance/joint venture which will manufacture passenger cars and SUVs in Russia. The new joint venture's production facilities will produce nine models of the most popular Russian vehicles, including C-class and D-class vehicles, SUVs and crossover vehicles. Six models will feature the new FIAT-Chrysler common platform.
New production facilities will be established in Naberezhnye Chelny at the Sollers Naberezhnye Chelny plant. A technology park manufacturing automotive parts and components and an engineering-tech centre will also be established there. Domestic content levels will reach at least 50%, including engine and transmission production in Russia. An annual capacity of 500,000 vehicles is planned.
Italian home-appliance manufacturer Indesit continues to expand its production facilities in Lipetsk, where 1.5 million refrigerators and a million washing machines are assembled annually. Indesit currently controls 23% of the Russian electrical-appliance market.
Bilateral investment cooperation is also quite active. In 2009, Russia's LUKOIL invested 1.347 billion euros in a joint venture involving Italy's ERG. The venture will manage a refinery producing 16 million tonnes of feedstock annually in Priolo, Sicily. This refinery is among the largest in the Mediterranean region. ERG and LUKOIL own 51% and 49% of the joint venture, respectively.
In March 2010, Severstal, a Russian steel and mining company, acquired a 20.2% stake in steel producer Lucchini Group, getting 100% of the Italian company's shares.
A pharmaceutical plant using Berlin Chemie Menarini technology, due to be constructed in the Kaluga Region, is to become another major cooperation project. An investment agreement to this effect was signed on March 19, 2010.
