NO PROBLEM WITH USA OVER TIES WITH E.EUROPE, BERLUSCONI

NO PROBLEM WITH USA OVER TIES WITH E.EUROPE, BERLUSCONI

(ANSA) - Rome, November 13 - Italy's improved relations with Russia and other Eastern European nations have in no way had a negative effect on its ties with the United States, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday.

"There is no chance that our opening to these countries can in any way cast a shadow on our collaboration with the West," the premier told the press after his meeting with Serb President Boris Tadic.

"We are an integral part of the West, we are the ones who believe in a united West and one composed not only of the European Union but also of the United States, with whom we have solid relations and which considers us to be true and loyal allies," he added.

In regard to Italy's relations with Eastern European countries, Berlusconi said that "we are signing accords with new nations which represent new markets for our products and investments".

The nations and markets were new, he explained, because "they were born after the fall of the Iron Curtain and Communism".

"The passage from totalitarianism and dictatorship over these past 20 years has not been easy nor swift. All these countries had to tackle the solid structure of the previous regime created by powerful men and so the road has not been easy," the premier observed.