Italian Prime Minister meets Russian Foreign Minister

ROME, February 8. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have discussed the international situation and bilateral relations, Berlusconi's office reported on Wednesday.

The meeting was held the night before at Chigi Palazzo, the Italian prime minister’s seat in Rome.

"Berlusconi confirmed that Italy attached great importance to developing relations between the Russian Federation and the European Union, as well as between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance," the statement reads.

According to the prime minister's office, the two ministers discussed the agenda of the G8 summit to be held in St. Petersburg in July as part of Russia’s G8 chairmanship. They agreed that the Group of Eight industrialized countries would focus on energy cooperation, it said.

Berlusconi has always helped Russia's complete integration with the club, it said.

At the end of the meeting, the parties said they were content with trade and economic relations between the two countries, especially with the trade turnover, which had soared by 25% in 2005 alone, the statement said.