Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Benedetto Della Vedova made a visit to Kiev on 19 and 20 May.
His meeting with First Deputy Foreign Minister Natalia Galibarenko, whose participants included representatives of the Ukraine agriculture and energy ministries and of the state agency for energy savings and efficiency, focused on the preparations for the joint Italy-Ukraine economic commission announced during a visit by Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni on 5 and 6 May. Among the sectors of priority interest were energy, particularly in regard to the development of renewable sources and the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as agriculture and food production.
The meeting also offered an opportunity for an exchange of ideas on regional development and Ukraine-EU relations, not least in view of the Eastern Partnership summit scheduled for today and tomorrow in Riga.
During his visit, the under-secretary also met with a group of representatives of the Committee of Italian Businesspersons in Ukraine to examine some major aspects of interest to investors, not least in anticipation of the results of the joint commission meeting.