ROME, July 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Italy on Wednesday to attend a Group of Eight summit in the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila.
This is the second time Medvedev has attended a G8 summit as Russian president. Last year the summit was held in Japan.
The presidential plane landed at Rome's Pratica di Mare airport. Medvedev will later travel to L'Aquila, where an earthquake killed almost 300 people in early April. 1,500 people were also injured and about 50,000 left homeless by the quake.
The venue for the three-day summit, bringing together 30 countries, has been moved from Sardinia's La Maddalena to L'Aquila in an effort by Italian authorities to draw attention to the problems of the devastated region.
L'Aquila was again hit by a 4.1 magnitude quake last week and evacuation measures are in place in the event of a new tremor.
The Russian president intends to focus on the issues of North Korea and the Middle East, and also outline his conclusions from his recent visit to Africa at the summit. Medvedev visited Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia and Angola in June.
On the sidelines of the summit, Medvedev will hold one-on-one meetings with the prime ministers of Italy, Britain, Japan and Spain, as well as the presidents of Algeria and South Korea.
