EGYPT: Italy's president lauds strong trade relations and regional cooperation with Egypt

Record ID: 783840

  • Title: EGYPT: Italy's president lauds strong trade relations and regional cooperation with Egypt
  • Date: 27th October 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PHOTO-OP OF MUBARAK AND NAPOLITANO MUBARAK AND NAPOLITANO AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN PRESIDENT, GIORGIO NAPOLITANO, SAYING: "Italy is more a commercial partner with Egypt, with the arbitration of the European Union, with a trade that in 2007 brought about 4 billion euros. We should also consider the presence of a number of Italian industrial groups, first of all in the energy sector, but also in the sectors of transport, infrastructure, defence, banking and tourism." CAMERMAN FILMING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN PRESIDENT, GIORGIO NAPOLITANO, SAYING: "Without a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli question, which sees a secure Israel living side by side to an independent and economically viable Palestinian state, there cannot be peace in the entire region nor prospects for development of its people." WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK, SAYING: "But the problem now, is that there is no government to speak to. We are trying to speak to them but… So now we are trying to solve the problem between the Palestinians themselves in order to prepare for negotiations with the Israelis. There were negotiations underway with Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas was meeting with him a great deal, but now the situation is that there is a new government and they are forming a government and they will go back and have elections - all of this will delay the process maybe four to six months." WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA70G28NPF169LOD7GW046PHD0A
  • Story Text: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano calls for a lasting peace in the Middle East and lauds Italy's trade relations with Egypt.
    Italian President Giorgio Napolitano met with Egypt's president today at the end of a state visit during which he participated in the annual commemoration of the battle of Al-Alamein on Egypt's north coast.
    Napolitano, whose position as president is largely ceremonial, spoke with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak about a host of regional issues, in particular trade between the two countries.
    Italy is one of Egypt's largest trading partners in the European Union -- a relationship that Napolitano said anchors ties between the two states.

    "Italy is more a commercial partner with Egypt, with the arbitration of the European Union, with a trade that in 2007 brought about 4 billion euros. We should also consider the presence of a number of Italian industrial groups, first of all in the energy sector, but also in the sectors of transport, infrastructure, defence, banking and tourism," he said.
    Napolitano also said that securing peace between Israel and the Palestinians was essential to ensuring regional stability.

    "Without a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli question, which sees a secure Israel living side by side to an independent and economically viable Palestinian state, there cannot be peace in the entire region nor prospects for development of its people," he said.
    The restart of long-dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will likely be further delayed by a change in government in Israel and the United States.
    President Mubarak said it would be months before there was any prospect of talks.

    "But the problem now, is that there is no government to speak to.
    We are trying to speak to them but… So now we are trying to solve the problem between the Palestinians themselves in order to prepare for negotiations with the Israelis. There were negotiations underway with Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas was meeting with him a great deal, but now the situation is that there is a new government and they are forming a government and they will go back and have elections - all of this will delay the process maybe four to six months," he said.
    Egypt is a key mediator in talks between feuding Palestinian factions, and Mubarak said Cairo will host talks between the rival Fatah and Hamas parties on November 9.
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