Trieste (Italy), Nov 27 (IANS)

 Italy and Russia signed as many as 28 agreements in finance, energy and industry sectors at the Italian-Russian summit held here Tuesday.

The agreements included deals between Italian energy companies Eni and Enel and the leader of Russia's petroleum industry Rosneft as well as between Italian insurance and financial group Sace and Russia's bank Vnesheconombank, Xinhua reported.

Other deals were signed between Italian bank Ubi Banca and Russian Transcapital bank as well as between Italian cable maker Prysmian and Russia's largest electricity transmission and distribution grid company JSC Rosseti.

Italy's largest bank by assets UniCredit, Italy's tyre manufacturer Pirelli, Italy's shipbuilder Fincantieri and Russia's Krylov Shipbuilding Research Institute were also involved in the agreements.

Russia's state-backed private equity investment fund (Russian Direct Investment Fund) and Italy's strategic state investment fund (Italian Strategic Fund) agreed a deal to invest 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in companies and projects in the two countries.

There were also bilateral agreements in the cultural field, including one to set up a branch of Russia's Hermitage Museum in the heart of Italy's Venice, on St Mark's Square.

According to Russian estimates, bilateral turnover stood at $45.8 billion last year and has increased by 24 percent between January and September of this year compared to the same period in 2012.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit, which was attended by a total of 20 government ministers from the two countries.

The summit was held on the second day of Putin's two-day official visit to Italy. On Monday, he had held talks in Rome with Pope Francis, President Giorgio Napolitano and former prime ministers Romano Prodi and Silvio Berlusconi.