Egypt, Italy hold 3rd round of political consultation

CAIRO - 10 September 2020:  Egypt and Italy have held the third round of political consultations, discussing the bilateral relations, the situation in Libya, Palestinian cause, and the controversial issue of the Renaissance dam, said Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez in a statement on Wednesday.

 

“The round of consultations focused on addressing bilateral relations between Egypt and Italy in various political, economic and commercial fields,” Hafez said.

 

The session was held on Thursday at the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs downtown Cairo. It was headed by the  Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Ambassador Badr Abdel-Atti and  Italian Director General of Political Affairs at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Pasquale Ferrara.

 

Egyptian-Italian relation strained in 2016 due to the Giulio Regeni's murder case. Regeni, a 28-year old doctoral researcher, disappeared early in 2016 in the Egyptian capital; he was found dead in February of the same year, with his body bearing signs of torture. The perpetrators of the crime have not yet been brought to justice despite judicial cooperation between Egypt and Italy.

 

On June 6, 2021, Egypt’s Attorney General Hamada el-Sawy handed over to the Italian Ambassador to Egypt Giampaolo Cantini two copies of the Prosecution's documents in the Giulio Regeni's murder case.

 

The two copies, written in Arabic and Italian, shed light on all legal actions undertaken by the prosecution to crack the case until the announcement of its decision to suspend further legal action because the identity of the perpetrator of the murder crime against the Italian researcher was unknown, the Public Prosecution said in a statement.

 

Sawy stressed the importance of submitting all these papers to the Italian court examining the case as they include details that refute accusations directed to Egyptian police officers over killing Regeni.