Renzi hails Peres as great man of peace (2)

(ANSAmed) - Rome, September 28 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday remembered Shimon Peres as a "great man of peace" following his death early on Wednesday at the age of 93.
    "Shimon Peres, a great of our time, a man of peace", tweeted Renzi after learning that the former Israeli president had died.
    The premier remembered the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a "great friend of Italy" and said he had met him on September 2 at the Ambrosetti Forum, an annual international economic conference held at Villa d'Este in the northern town of Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como.
    Peres "is a great friend of Italy, and most of all of peace", said Renzi. "We all remember him with affection and gratitude, the Italian people (are) very close to the Israelis", said the premier. "He is one of those figures who are worth twice as much", he told RTL 102.5 radio. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Peres was a "great Israeli leader". "I remember Shimon Peres, a great Israeli leader, Nobel prize for the Oslo accords, tireless supporter of the two-State solution, Shalom ", tweeted Gentiloni. Gentiloni told State broadcaster Rai's Radio Anch'io program that Peres represents "Israel's history, from young immigrant to elderly president, Nobel winner, a symbol of peace of that country". Gentiloni also remembered in the live interview that the former Israeli president was in favor of a "solution to the conflict, a two-State solution", at a time when it is losing momentum within the international community. "There is no alternative to that solution", Gentiloni said.