Sisi, Italian minister discuss gas, Libya, Regeni's death

CAIRO – 5 August 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Sunday and expressed appreciation of bilateral relations and aspiration for further cooperation.

The meeting was attended by Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shokry, director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (GIS) Abbas Kamel, and Italian Ambassador to Egypt Giampaolo Cantini.

The presidency’s spokesperson, Basam Rady, told the press that the visit indicates the strength of Egyptian-Italian ties as well as the eagerness of the new Italian government to maintain mutual cooperation over regional issues.

The current Italian government was formed in June and is headed by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, initially a law professor.

President Sisi stated that the Egyptian General Prosecution deploys all efforts in investigations of the murder of Italian Ph.D. student Giulio Regeni and that it would continue collaborating with its Italian counterpart.

The president stressed the importance of developing the partnership on the economic, trade, and investments scales, capitalizing on the success of cooperation in the oil and gas field as Egypt looks forward to becoming the regional center for gas and energy trade and exchange.

On his part, the Italian minister praised the transparency of investigations on Regeni’s death, asserting his confidence that the truth will be uncovered.

The meeting included talks over the Libyan crisis as both parties stressed the necessity of supporting attempts to reach a political settlement by backing the endeavors of the United Nations envoy and holding elections.

Milanesi recognized Egypt’s role in unifying the military institution in Libya in order to reinstate stability and security, while President Sisi affirmed that Egypt’s stance on the situation in Libya is the same as its stance on all other crises in the region, which consists of the unification of each country’s land, respect for people’s will embodied in elections, and backing of national standing armies.

Both parties discussed the importance of adopting an integrated strategy to combat illegal migration by resolving crises in the region, pushing development efforts, and improving the living conditions of its peoples.

President Sisi highlighted that Egypt promulgated legislations, undertook economic reforms, and secured borders and coasts to slow migration waves, which have stopped since September 2016.

Discovered in 2015 by the Italian energy company Eni, Zohr gas field has an area of 100 square meters and a depth of 1,450 meters. Around $10 billion has been invested in the project and Eni is estimating a total output of approximately 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The 2015 discovery of the largest gas field in nearly 50 years is expected to make Egypt the region’s major energy hub.