UPDATE 1-Italy transport ministry, Atlantia's motorway unit discuss road safety

The Italian transport ministry and officials from motorway operator Autostrade per L'Italia discussed safety issues on the road network on Friday, the ministry said.

In a statement it said it had asked Autostrade, a unit of infrastructure group Atlantia which has been under intense scrutiny since the deadly collapse of a bridge in Genoa in 2018, to tackle problems on the network and in particular in the regions of Liguria, Marche, and Abruzzo. Autostrade, in a separate statement, said that as requested by the ministry, it had decided to extend a freeze on toll road tariffs - which had already been in place for this year - beyond the end of 2019.