Putin to visit Italy Monday

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to pay a two-day state visit to Italy on Monday, the 25th and 26th of November at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, the Kremlin presidency said on Thursday. When in Rome, Putin is scheduled to pay a brief visit to the Vatican and meet Pope Francis, according to the Kremlin press service and reported by Voice of Russia and RIA. The eighth round of enlarged Russian-Italian top-level interstate consultations involving the two countries' government ministers is due to be held in Italy as part of Vladimir Putin's visit programme. Putin is also due to meet his Italian counterpart, Giorgio Napolitano, for talks. Vladimir Putin's agenda features the discussion of a wide range of bilateral cooperation issues, basically trade and economic, investment and energy cooperation, and also the discussion of topical international problems.