Russia's Medvedev praises Italy's "experienced" Berlusconi (Roundup)

Jul 23, 2010, 16:05 GMT

Milan, Italy - Russian President Dimitry Medvedev on Friday praised Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as the 'most authoritative and experienced' leader in the Group of Eight (G8).

The compliment came after Berlusconi, at a joint news conference in Milan, called for maintaining the current format by which leaders of the G8 - United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - hold annual summits to discuss world issues.

Such summits have been criticized by some as elitist talk-shops where little is achieved, but the 44-year-old Medvedev said they were important because they allowed world leaders, some of them new on the global scene, to exchange views and opinions.

'Among these, the most authoritative and experienced is without a doubt Silvio Berlusconi. I always pay much attention to what Silvio does and how he responds to questions,' Medvedev said.

Italy's 73-year-old three-times premier has in the past marked some of his meetings with other leaders with utterances which were largely interpreted as gaffes.

In one non-G8 linked encounter with Medvedev in 2008 in Moscow, Berlusconi described the then freshly elected US President Barack Obama as 'tanned,' and later responded to criticism by saying he meant the comment as 'cute.'

But on Friday there we no such lapses.

Berlusconi and Medvedev focused their discussions mainly on economic ties between their two countries.

Italy remains Russia's third largest trade partner, even though the volume of exchange between the two countries fell by 30 per cent in 2009 in the wake of the global economic slump.

However, the first four months of 2010 have registered an increase of more than 40 per cent in trade, compared to the same period last year.

Berlusconi who is also Italy's interim economic development minister, has been championing greater involvement in Russia by Italian firms, including state-controlled energy company ENI and car giant Fiat.

At Friday's news conference, Berlusconi revealed he would relinquish the economic development portfolio when a new minister is appointed 'next week'. The previous holder of the post, Claudio Scajola resigned earlier this year after he was embroiled in a shady real estate deal.

For Medvedev the trip to Italy is set to be a mixture of business and pleasure.

Escorted by a group of Russian elite security forces, he was also slated to fly by helicopter to Italy's Valle D'Aosta Alpine region later Friday for a short ski holiday.

According to Italian news reports, Medvedev is - weather conditions permitting - to attempt some ski runs on the Plateau Rosa glacier, which rises some 3,000 metres above sea level near Italy's border with Switzerland.

Medvedev is scheduled to return to Moscow on Sunday evening.