Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced on Wednesday that he plans to visit Colombia to meet the country’s President, Alvaro Uribe.
Berlusconi announced his visit at the fourth Conference on Italy, Latin America and the Caribbean in Milan.
“I would like to send a special greeting to the President to thank him for sending his delegates to this conference. I am finishing up the organization of a visit to South America next spring and I would feel honored to be able to go and personally pay my respects and hug him,” the flamboyant Italian leader said.
According to Berlusconi, his country so far has had a “timid” relation with Latin America, but that this will change. “Italy has the opportunity to be leader in Latin America. Many think that Spain, because of the language, is the ideal entry to Europe. I refuse to think It’s Spain, I think it’s Italy,” Berlusconi told the conference.