ROME, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russian and Italian foreign and defense ministers will meet in Rome in a “two-plus-two” format Tuesday to discuss global security and bilateral military collaboration, a senior Russian defense official said.
The meeting will bring together Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the Russian side, and Foreign Minister Emma Bonino and Defense Minister Mario Mauro on the Italian side.
“As to the Defense Ministry, we will talk about military and military-technical collaboration as we have achieved significant progress in these areas,” Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Monday.
“We will certainly discuss regional issues…including the “Syrian scenario” and the “Afghan scenario,” Antonov said.
He added that the ministers will also discuss prospects of bilateral military collaboration, which so far “have been developing steadily.”
The upcoming meeting is the third in the “two-plus-two” format, which was tested in May 2010 in Rome prior to a Russia-EU summit.
The second meeting took place in April 2012 in Moscow. The sides reaffirmed at the time the strategic nature of the Russian-Italian relations and mutual desire to develop bilateral partnership.
