After Russia' takeover last week of Italian heating firm Ariston's subsidiary, foreign minister Antonio Tajani is chairing a roundatable in Rome on Thursday, which embassy officials in Moscow and local Italian businesses representatives will join via video-link.
The roundtable was organised "in the wake of the recent measures ordered by the Russian government against a number of foreign companies, including Ariston Thermo Group," said a foreign ministry statement.
Italy's main business lobby Confindustria and its trade agency (ICE) are attending the roundtable with finance and industry representatives, trade associations and companies "with significant investments" in Russia, according to the statement.
Embassy staff in Moscow and representatives of the Italian business community in Russia will take part in the event via video-link, the statement said.
The roundtable aims to "receive updates on the situation" from companies operating in Russia and to look at how the government intends to protect their "legitimate interests", the statement concluded.
The European Union and member states are in contact with Ariston and other European companies whose local subsidiaries have been taken over by "unpredictable" Russia and are considering what steps to take, the EU executive said on Wednesday.
"These measures only show that Moscow is an unpredictable actor on the international political and economic scene," European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said at a press briefing in Brussels.
"It (Moscow) has created an arbitrary and hostile environment for foreign investors," Stano underlined.
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