Foreign Minister of Italy Antonio Tajani
ROME, 21st January (RHC) – Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani today traveled to Egypt where he will hold contacts with his counterpart Sameh Shoukry and other authorities to discuss issues related to migration, energy and regional security.
According to an official statement released this Saturday by the digital information site Nova News, the Italian foreign minister will discuss international issues of common interest such as the instability in Libya, the situation in the Middle East and the conflict in Ukraine with the leaders of this North African nation . .
His meeting with Shoukry will take place in Cairo tomorrow, after which a joint press conference is planned.
On January 13, after returning from a visit to Turkiye, Tajani stated in an interview with Rai TV that among Rome’s priorities is working on a pact with the countries of origin and the main states through which migrants flow and handed over the stability of the Libyan government.
“Egypt and Turkey are two big countries that have influence in Libya and are transit countries, and then they have immigration problems and it is necessary to find a common solution,” the minister said at the time.
“We must ensure that an electoral solution is reached in Libya, but this can be achieved with an agreement between the parties involved: Egypt and Turkiye are parties involved, as is Italy,” the official added.
A meeting with the Italian business community is also planned during the visit to discuss the increase in investment, economic and commercial activity in the country.
In 2022, Italy was the third destination market for Egyptian exports, with a 6.6 percent market share, according to the latest official data ending in October this year.
Also in this period, Italian exports to that country accounted for 3.4% of the total, with bilateral trade accounting for 5.30 million euros and an increase of 7.6% compared to the same period in 2021, favorable for Rome was it sold for an amount of 2 thousand 750 million euros.
The main Italian investors in Egypt include Banco Intesa Sanpaolo, which holds 80.0% of Banco de Alejandria’s capital, and companies Maire Tecnimon; Energía Ansaldo, steel company Danieli, Ita Airways, military consortium Leonardo, Saipem and energy company ENI.
The latter has been present in this country since 1954, where it operates through its subsidiary IEOC and, according to the source, is currently the country’s main producer, with a daily production of hydrocarbons equal to almost 350,000 barrels of oil.