FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks during a meeting with Italian businessmen at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia October 24, 2018. Sergei Chirikov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

ROME (Reuters) - Relations between Italy and France remain strong despite recent rows over immigration, Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday, looking to ease an increasingly harsh war of words between Rome and Paris.

“This (row) does not call into question our historic friendship with France, nor with the French people. This relationship remains strong and steady in spite of any political dispute,” Conte said in a statement.

On Monday France summoned Italy’s ambassador after Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused Paris of creating poverty in Africa. His fellow deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, joined the attack on Tuesday, accusing France of doing nothing to bring peace to Libya.