Egypt's new ambassador to Italy, Hesham Badr, left Cairo for Rome on Friday morning, state news agency MENA said. On Wednesday, the new Italian ambassador to Egypt, Giampaolo Cantini, assumed his duties in Cairo. On Thursday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Italy's Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano met in London, and stressed the importance of the strengthening the two countries' cooperation in political, economic, and regional security areas. Cantini would be filling a position that had been vacant since April 2016, when the Italian foreign ministry recalled the ambassador citing concerns over transparency from Egyptian investigators looking into the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Egypt earlier that year. Last week, Alfano told his country's parliament that "Egypt is an inextricable partner of Italy, and also Italy is an inextricable partner of Egypt, therefore, it is impossible for our countries not to have high-level political and diplomatic dialogue." Alfano also said that sending Cantini to Cairo is intended to consolidate the political and ethical obligations of the Italian government regarding the search for the truth about the murder of Regeni. Egyptian authorities have been conducting an investigation to determine who killed Regeni and is regularly updating Rome on developments. Egypt's top prosecutor has visited Rome more than once since April 2016 to share information related to the ongoing inquiry with his Italian counterpart. Italy is the fifth-largest foreign investor in Egypt. The two countries also closely cooperate on finding a peaceful resolution for the conflict in Libya, as well as combatting irregular migration from north Africa to European shores.
