Egypt, Italy mull over Italian contribution to building new Egyptian museum

Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs Mohammad Shaaban will visit Rome Monday leading Egypt's side to the fourth session of the Egypt-Italy Political Consultations Committee.

In statements, Shaaban said the committee will discuss the regional and international situation in general and the latest developments in the Mideast in particular.

"Meetings of the development, economic cultural, scientific and technological cooperation panels will be held on the sidelines of the committee meetings," he added.

The cultural panel is due to discuss a possible Italian contribution to the building of the new Egyptian Museum. President Mubarak recently laid the cornerstone for the new museum.

Meanwhile, Italian newspapers reported remarkable increase in the number of Italians flocking to Egypt.

The number went down in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the US. The papers reported reservations to visit tourist attractions in Egypt in the coming spring and summer.Several Italian travel agents have begun organizing trips to Egypt after Italians overcome their travel fears, said the newspapers.

They praised the measures taken by the Egyptian government to back the tourist sector which were highly welcomed by travel agents in Italy, the most important of which was promoting charter Egyptian and foreign flights as well as discounts in hotels and air tickets.

Around 40,000 Italian tourists spent their Christmas vacation in Egypt, said Italian newspaper.

Meanwhile, Agence France Press (AFP) said that Egypt has restored its thrive in tourism after travel fears has been dispelled.

As a proof to this, the agency said that the figure of European and Asian tourism has upped. It added that the occupancy of hotels in Cairo increased from 40% last fall to 70-80% current winter.

As for the occupancy of hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh and Luxor, the agency said that it hit 50%.