CAIRO - Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the chief of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), has received an official invitation from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to visit Rome on June 2 to attend celebrations marking the day on which Italy became a republic. The invitation was delivered by Italian Ambassador in Egypt, Claudio Pacifico, who said that the celebration marked the 65th anniversary of Italy becoming a republic after World War Two. Pacifico added that heads of state and governments had received similar invitations to attend the event in which the Italians rejected monarchy and chose a republic form of government that began the modernisation of the country. “This year's celebration coincides with the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification,” Ambassador Pacifico said, lauding the long-established ties between Cairo and Rome in all domains. He said that the Cairo and Rome governments had been working on bolstering their trade exchange and increasing the number of Italian business ventures in Egypt. Meanwhile, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute Partrizia Ravegbi, said that the institute would hold a cultural festival in Cairo to feature Italian publishers and printing materials from 12 Italian universities.
