World divided into fearmongers, holders of values says Renzi

St Petersburg, June 17 - The world is divided into fearmongers and those who uphold values, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday. "The main problem...does not solely reside in economic difficulties and issues linked to sanctions," Renzi said in his address to the assembled forum. "The real problem is that the international political system is divided in two - on the one hand a large bet placed on fear, hatred, intolerance, and on the other the desire of those who would build the future by upholding cultural identities and roots as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin said". Renzi added yesterday's assassination of a British Labour MP by a Brexiteer and the mass shooting in a gay club in Orlando, Florida, at the weekend mean that "the international community must engage in this battle before the economic one - the economy can only work within a framework of openness not closure, of bridges not walls".