President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met on Thursday with a delegation from the Italian parliament led by the president of the Italian Senate's defence commission, Nicola Latorre, and Vice-President of the Italian Senate Maurizio Gasparri. "Egypt is looking forward to renew and develop its historical relations with Italy," Al-Sisi said, stressing his confidence in the capacity of relations between the two countries to overcome the various challenges, according to presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef in a statement. Al-Sisi stressed the importance of boosting parliamentary visits between the two countries to increase the public interaction between the Egyptian and Italian peoples. He also said that Egypt will not forget the Italian position supporting Egypt after the 30 June revolution, according to the statement. Youssef said that the Italian delegation members expressed their country's pride of the unique relation with Egypt and support Egypt in all challenges. The Italian Senate's defence commission praised the Egyptian role in the Middle East and its battle against terrorism, as well as Egyptian efforts to counter illegal immigration, the statement read. Regarding the Libyan issue, Al-Sisi asserted that restoring stability and ending the suffering of the people makes it necessary to reach a political settlement that preserves the body of the state in Libya, according to the statement. Also, the meeting included discussions about restoring relations between Egypt and Italy amid the developments of the case of Giulio Regeni, the Italian university researcher who was found tortured and murdered in Cairo in early 2016. Al-Sisi asserted the importance of cooperation between investigative authorities in the two countries, stressing Egypt's commitment to work on revealing the truth about the incident, and punishing the criminals. Relations between Egypt and Italy have been strained by the case of Regeni, which resulted in recalling the Italian ambassador to Egypt back to Rome in April 2016.
