Moscow, Jul 24 (IANS): Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he is confident of restoration of bilateral trade between his country and Italy and the two-way trade volume can soon reach a pre-crisis level due to expanded economic ties.

Putin was speaking during a meeting Monday with visiting Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in the Russian resort of Sochi on the Black Sea, Xinhua reported.

Russian-Italian trade grew by more than 25 percent to about $46 billion last year, Putin said, adding that if the two sides kept the positive momentum, a gap of $7 billion could be covered.

"If we retain this pace, we will soon reach the pre-crisis level," said Putin while adding that the global economic turbulence did not affect economic cooperation between the two sides.

Monti said that given hard times in Europe, Italy needed to promote economic ties with traditional partners like Russia.

"We are passing through tough situations in Europe and eurozone. It shows the necessity to strengthen economic and industrial ties, and Russia is the starting point of these relations," said Monti.

Another round of Russia-Italy inter-state consultations will be held in Rome in October, the Italian prime minister added.