Rome, Sep 7 (IANS/AKI) In a "very cordial" phone conversation, Italy's Premier Giuseppe Conte and US President Donald Trump agreed to hold bilateral talks in New York later this month and reaffirmed the longstanding amity between their countries, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

During the phone call, Trump also congratulated Conte on his new job at the helm of the centre-left-populist government which took office on Thursday, the sources told AKI.

The new government succeeds the fractious populist-far-right coalition government led by Conte which collapsed last month.

"Preparations are underway for a bilateral meeting between the US President and the Premier on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, which opens on September 24," a source said.

"Italy and the United States are friends," Conte and Trump agreed in their phone conversation, the source said.

Trump praised Conte in a tweet in late August that hailed him as a "very talented man" and patriot who "loves his country" and "works well with the US".

Conte was "surprised" and "very proud" to read Trump's accolades, AKI learned from diplomatic sources.