Genoa, Conference of

(1922) Post–World War I meeting at Genoa, Italy, to discuss the economic reconstruction of Central and Eastern Europe and to improve relations between Soviet Russia and Western Europe.

Representatives of 30 European countries sought ways to enlist foreign capital for the "restoration of Russia." Negotiations broke down when France and Belgium, Russia's main creditors, insisted on repayment of prewar loans and restitution of confiscated foreign-owned property in Russia. Announcement of the German-Soviet Treaty of Rapallo further strained relations.

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▪ European history

      (April 10–May 19, 1922), post-World War I meeting at Genoa, Italy, to discuss the economic reconstruction of central and eastern Europe and to explore ways to improve relations between Soviet Russia and European capitalist regimes.

      Attended by representatives of 30 European countries and the British dominions, the conference set up four commissions to investigate ways to enlist foreign capital for the “restoration of Russia,” which had been devastated by German invasion, revolution, and civil war. Negotiations foundered when France and Belgium, prerevolutionary Russia's main creditors, insisted on the integral repayment of prewar loans and integral restitution of confiscated foreign-owned property in Soviet Russia.

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