Italian FM starts an official visit to Egypt by meeting with Mubarak
Egypt-Italy, Politics, 5/16/2003

At the time when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday held talks with the Italian foreign minister Franco Farateini and members of the accompanying delegation, currently visiting Egypt, an Egyptian diplomatic source said that the Egyptian- Italian talks fall in the course of exchanging view points on means of implementing the peace plan in the Middle East known as "Roadmap" and Iraq's future after the war.

The discussions were in the context of the Italian presidency of the coming session of the European Union, due to be held by the beginning of July until the end of December. The source said that relations between the Mediterranean basin states will play an important role during the coming phase to accelerating settlement with Israel.

The meeting was attended by the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher and on the Italian side by the Italian ambassador in Cairo and the director of the Mediterranean affairs at the Italian foreign ministry.

Following the meeting, Maher said that the Italian minister delivered President Mubarak a message from the Italian prime minister implying renewing an invitation to Mubarak to visit Italy. Maher said that discussions dealt with the situation in the Middle East and the efforts made concerning the Roadmap, the development of conditions in Iraq as well as bilateral relations.

Maher described the meeting as "deepened," noting that the Italian minister informed Maher that the Italian side is concerned with providing aid and support in order to achieve a settlement in the Middle East. He stressed that his country will double efforts to that fact with the Palestinians and the Israelis.

He indicated that the Italian minister underlined the importance of supporting cultural dialogue between the countries of the north and Southern Mediterranean, noting that the meeting also dealt with bilateral cooperation and cooperation during the talks between the two countries FMs.

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  Mubarak meets Italian officials today   (9/25/2001)

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