Roundup: Eurasian Forum in Italy highlights Europe, Eurasia interdependence

There is a clear economic and political interdependence between Europe and Eurasia, senior officials and entrepreneurs underlined at the two-day Fourth Eurasian Forum that closed on Friday in the city of Verona, in northern Italy.

"Now that we are exiting the crisis, we need to work to seek common solutions, starting from energy. The European Union (EU) has not implemented a shared policy on energy," Italian Undersecretary of European Policies Sandro Gozi highlighted in his remarks at the forum.

"The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is very important for Italy and we aim at creating a synergy-based relation. In this sense, our country is at the forefront at the European level, as it believes very much in bilateral dialogue," he said.

"However, to this day Brussels has not officially recognized the new Eurasian union," Gozi added.

"The challenge that Europe must be ready to face is that of the gradual construction of a dialogue with the Eurasian union," Italian Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi highlighted. "We need to promote integration between the two regions in order to boost trade and investments," she said at the forum.

Ge Ming, Independent Director at Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, underlined that Chinese groups are diversifying their business models and investments, and going more and more international.

In the Eurasian market, he said, the China-proposed "One Belt One Road" initiative is today the reference point for many big companies aiming at doing business in the European and Asian countries along the ancient route.

During the forum, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the development of a synthetic rubber plant construction project in Nakhodka, Russia, was signed between Milan-based tire manufacturer Pirelli, Russian oil company Rosneft and Polish chemicals maker Synthos.

Ultimately Pirelli, which has been recently taken over by China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina), would become the key customer for the synthetic rubber, as indicated in a MOU signed with Rosneft in 2014.

In his keynote speech, Rosneft Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin named the partnership as one of the examples of integral cooperation in Eurasian space "with the use of resource potential of Russia and financial capability of China."

It is "Big Eurasia" that historically has been the center of the world civilization, and global economic growth is concentrated in the territory of this macro-continent, Sechin said.

In contrast, European power industry is experiencing difficulties, he noted. In his view, the energy dialogue is one of the most promising mechanisms for building Europe-Russia-Asia inter-civilization bridge. "Eurasia remains the world's largest producer and consumer of oil, with 59 percent of the world's oil reserves and 60 percent of world's refining capacities located there," he said.

The forum, organized by the Verona-based association "Conoscere Eurasia" (Knowing Eurasia) and St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, was attended by hundreds of government and business community representatives from Armenia, Belarus, China, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and South Korea. Endit