In a Maghreb and Middle East tour, Italian FM in Tunisia

An official source said that the Italy's foreign minister Franco Frattini arrived on Friday evening in Tunisia in the framework of a tour on the Maghreb and Middle East states.

Fratini will hold talks with his Tunisian counterpart Habib Ben Yahya on the situation in the Middle East which is considered among "Italy's priority during its presidency of the European Union" which starts on July 1st, according to a statement announced in Rome.

The Tunisian official news agency announced news of the visit and underlined the importance of Tunisian- Italian relations.

Italy occupies Tunisia's second ranking trade partner and the second concerning foreign direct trade investments as there are 537 Italian companies working in Tunisia ensuring jobs for 38,000 persons.

Since the year 2000, the two countries have started a fruitful test at the level of controlling the flow of the Tunisian immigrants to Italy.

On February 10th this year the two countries signed a treaty of friendship, and co-operation.

The Italian foreign minister will visit after Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon and Syria. He expects to return back to Rome on June 9th.