(ANSA) - ROME, 17 DIC - The 9th session of the Italian-Ukrainian Council for Economic, Industrial, and Financial Cooperation took place in a virtual format. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio kicked off the Council's work with a video message in which he underlined the consolidation of Italian-Ukrainian relations during 2020 and recalled the mutual manifestations of friendship and solidarity to face the emergency Covid-19 in Italy and floods in Ukraine.

Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano and Deputy Minister of the Interior Kovalchuk chaired the Italo-Ukrainian Council attended by the management of Ice, Sace, Simest, Confindustria. Thanks to the participation of many entities and companies active in the Ukrainian market, the works allowed specific insights into the infrastructure sectors, energy, cooperation in the banking and financial sector, space, and digitization, highlighting promising opportunities for bilateral collaboration. "We are optimistic about the future of our cooperation in all these sectors, and we count on the commitment of Ukrainian institutions to ensure broad participation of Italian operators in the effort to modernize and privatize large sectors of the Ukrainian economy" underlined Di Stefano. At the end of the Council, Undersecretary Di Stefano signed with the Ukrainian Minister of Culture, Tkachenko, the Bilateral Cooperation Program 2021-2025 in the cultural sector. (ANSA).