President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi received Italian Interior Minister Marco Minetti - Press photoCAIRO - 27 January 2018: The Egyptian-Italian relationship is expected to improve significantly in 2018, following the signing and concluding of several new deals and projects between Cairo and Rome, to end the political crisis which occurred after the murder of Italian researcher Regeni in 2016.“The Egyptian-Italian relationship is expected to witness a great breakthrough soon as many projects will be uncovered within a few days,” said Egypt’s Ambassador to Italy Hesham Badr.Badr called on all Egyptian expatriates in Italy to play a positive role in the upcoming presidential elections. For the Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (AICS), it is one of the major contributions on a global scale. In this framework, the Italian side raised specific initiatives in which some Italian companies are involved.On January 20, 2018, Minister of Military Production Mohamed el-Assar met with Italian Ambassador Cantini to discuss industrial cooperation between Cairo and Rome.The meeting focused on the cooperation between military production companies in Egypt and Italian firms. This murder has led to strained relations between Italy and Egypt.Last December, the Vatican’s delegation of the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP), which is responsible for pilgrimages to the Vatican, visited the Pyramids and Sphinx sites. The delegation was chaired by the head of ORP, Remo Chiavarini.

Source: Egypt Today January 27, 2018 16:05 UTC