7 August, 2007…..

Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Fatma El-Zaraa Etman, received the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ugo Intini, on the 6^th of July 2007. The Egyptian Ambassador to Rome, Ashraf Rashed, took part in the meeting.

The discussions tackled the means of pushing forward the distinguished bilateral relations, particularly in the economic field, taking into consideration that Italy comes on top of the list of Egypt’s trade partners in Europe. The trade volume between both countries reached 3.74 billion Euros during 2006, while the Italian investments in Egypt amounted to nearly 3.5 billion Euros.

The meeting also included ways of promoting cooperation between Egypt and Italy within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in which countries are active, as well as the new French ideas regarding the establishment of "Mediterranean Union".

The meeting reflected the particularity of the traditional relations between Egypt and Italy which has a positive impact on the convergence of the positions of both countries towards the means of tackling the regional and international issues of common concern.

At the end of the talks, both sides agreed on continuing coordination between the officials of both Foreign Ministries to follow up the pending issues between both sides so as to promote economic and cultural relations in order to achieve balance to the distinguished political relations between Egypt and Italy.

In this context, the two countries agreed on convening the additional session of political consultation in Rome, in the second half of November 2007, to be headed by the Foreign Ministry, and in which several other concerned Egyptian ministries shall participate.