Cairo - In the first official visit to Egypt after the controversial Regeni case, the Italian Parliament's delegation headed by Senate Defense Committee Chair Nicola Latorre arrived at Cairo on Monday (June 11). The delegation met on Tuesday morning with Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayyib, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the leading and most influential religious hub and university of Sunni Islam. "An extraordinary meeting during which he emphasized the important contributions that can come from interfaith dialogue as well as from efforts to politically stabilize of the region and fight against the roots of terrorism," said Latorre in press statements after the meeting. For his part, Al-Tayyib insisted on the need to further develop and strengthen bilateral relations between Italy and Egypt and to wipe out all traces of tension. Latorre pointed out to the extraordinary role played by Al-Azhar and its Grand Imam to preclude any exploitation of the Islamic religion and to affirm the value of Islam as religion of peace. Latorre was on a visit to Cairo together with two other members of the permanent Commission of the Italian Parliament, namely vice president Vincenzo Santangelo (M5S) and Maurizio Gasparri (Fi). The visit kicked off on Monday with a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. El-Sisi stressed Egypt's full commitment to uncover the circumstances of the murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni and bring the perpetrators to justice. During reception of the Italian delegation on Tuesday, El-Sisi also said that the current threats facing the world require more coordination and joint cooperation to confront and eliminate them. He also stressed the importance of continuing to strengthen parliamentary relations between the two countries and to intensify mutual visits of the members of the two parliaments in order to help increase the people's interaction and to add new impetus to relations of the privileged friendship between the Italian and Egyptian peoples. Egyptian President also stated that Egypt will not forget Italy's position of supporting the Egyptian people's will following the June 30 Revolution. For its part, the delegation affirmed Italy's support for Egypt in facing all the challenges, whether security or economical. The members of the Italian delegation praised Egypt's efforts to restore stability in the region and defuse the existing crises.
