Milan hosted the opening forum day, yesterday, with an entrepreneurial roundtable on, "Russia-Italy: Market Attractiveness and Economic Partnership Prospects".
Now, the forum has moved on to Venice to shift the accent from finance and other economic matters to culture and the arts. What is going on in Venice is, in fact, a two-day Russian culture festival.
Venice has given Russian performers its best sites. The Kuban Cossack choir sang today in the city's heart-Piazza San Marco. Acclaimed through centuries, the La Fenice opera house sees tonight a gala concert by the excellent chamber ensemble, Moscow Soloists, led by Yuri Bashmet, one of Russia's-and the world's-best viola players. Moscow's Peresvet male chamber choir appears at San Marco with sacred music tomorrow morning, right after the Mass.
There are art shows, and public introductions of the latest books on the many aspects of Russian-Italian links.
The Venetian part of the forum envisages another two roundtables. They are to take two days in the Renaissance halls of the Giorgio Cini foundation in the island San Giorgio Maggiore, which hosted several G8 summits.
One of the roundtables, on "St. Petersburg-Venice: Shared Problems and Solutions", gathered the two renowned cities' spokesmen today to discuss historical centers restoration and upkeep, transport progress in localities amply dominated by architectural treasures, and environment protection-that a burning matter with the two seaside cities, who have to protect themselves from floods with dams and canals.
The other roundtable, tomorrow's, will concern bilateral tourist developments.
An agreement signed today envisages the international Leonardo da Vinci prize revived on a Russian-Italian arrangement, to be awarded at forum dialogues in St. Petersburg and Florence. Established in Russia, in the 1990s, the Leonardo prize was awarded to outstanding patrons of the arts and humanitarian activists. Prominent among the winners were Diana the Princess of Wales; Juan Antonio Samaranch, International Olympic Committee President; Anatoli Sobchak, St. Petersburg Mayor; and media tycoon Ted Turner as Goodwill Games founding father.
The current forum saw a public introduction of Project Ad Fontes: To the Christian Roots of European Unity. It came as joint initiative of Rome's association Sophia: Russian Idea, European Idea, and of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
"This forum is offering humanitarian partnership in such a form as makes it a unique laboratory to test the most diverse initiatives of interest to civil societies," Sergei Yastrzhembsky said to Novosti. Co-chairing the forum for Russia, he is President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for Russian contacts with the European Union.
"A greater part of the current Italian forum program is Russia's brainchild. Now, it is up to our Italian partners to offer basic ideas for the next forum. To all appearances, it will gather in Russia shortly before the nearest bilateral summitry, due next autumn," added Mr. Yastrzhembsky.
Established on Russian and Italian top leaders' initiative, 2004, the dialogue forum is implementing a pattern of public activism aimed to involve civil society into the Russo-Italian dialogue, and help both countries' leaders as they elaborate updated partnership agendas. The forum reflects the two nations' desire to spread international contacts, in their latter-day format, from politics to culture, research, public organizations and business communities.
