• 06:14
  • Tuesday ,05 September 2017
العربية

Italian ambassador to return to Cairo on 14 September: Italian foreign minister

By-Ahram

Home News

00:09

Tuesday ,05 September 2017

Italian ambassador to return to Cairo on 14 September: Italian foreign minister

Italy s Minister of Foreign Affairs Angelino Alfano announced on Monday that the Italian ambassador to Egypt, Giampaolo Cantini, will take up his position in Cairo on 14 September, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Egypt s ambassador to Italy, Hesham Badr, will resume his role in Rome on the same date, said MENA.
 
Alfano made the announcement during a session of the foreign affairs committee at the Italian parliament, according to Italy s AGI new agency.
 
"Egypt is an inextricable partner of Italy, and also Italy is an inextricable partner of Egypt," said Alfano. "Therefore, it is impossible for our countries not to have high-level political and diplomatic dialogue."
 
Alfano also said that sending Cantini to Cairo is intended to consolidate the political and ethical obligations of the Italian government regarding the search for the truth about the murder of Italian researcher Guilio Regeni.
 
Alfano also told the Italian parliament that the Regeni case was "a serious injury for our conscience, for all of us and for the whole country," Italian news agency ANSA reported.
 
He added: "The day the body of Giulio Regeni was found, bilateral relations suffered a big blow."
 
In mid-August Alfano announced that an Italian ambassador would return to Cairo more than a year after the envoy was recalled in the wake of the death of Regeni.
 
Regeni was conducting research on trade unions before he went missing on January 25 last year. His body was found with signs of torture on 3 February on the outskirts of the capital.
 
According to the Egyptian interior ministry, the police stopped investigating the Italian student days before his disappearance.
 
His murder cast a shadow over Egypt-Italy relations, with Rome recalling its ambassador in April 2016, expressing concerns about the alleged lack of transparency in Egypt s investigations.