CFK proud of 'restart of relationship' with Italy

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said that Argentinas’s debt restructuring allowed "the re-start of the relationship with Italy," where she spent two days in an official visit and celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Italian Unification.

“Last year we ended the second stage of the debt restructuring, which allowed Argentina to be reinserted into the World, at least in strictly economic terms," Fernández de Kirchner said while visiting Venice’s Art Biennale, where she signed an agreement so that the country has a permanent art exhibition.

“Due to economic issues, and what had happened in my country during the 2001 crisis, none of the presidents could visit Italy,” she added, referring to the conflict with Italian bond holder.

Fernández de Kirchner also stated that Italian president Giorgio Napolitano told her on Wednesday that “Argentina returned to the West on the issue of human rights,” after signing a document for the opening of the Argentine Embassy files during the dictatorship.

“I told Napolitano that we are back with a bang in all aspects: with the debt and now with art and culture, because will have a permanent exhibition space here in Venice,” she added.

“This is a spot that the Argentine art has won,” she said in a meeting with Argentine artists, after the inaguration of the Biennale.

Earlier, the Fernández de Kirchner met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, and discussed the Middle East situation. Peres thanked the President for Argentina’s stance on fighting international terrorism. On her part, Fernández de Kirchner stated that Argentina, as several Latin American nations do, backs the right of Palestine to recognized a state by the UN.

The President is expected to arrive in Buenos Aires early Saturday morning-