Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano
said Monday that relations with Egypt were a necessity when
commenting on the Giulio Regeni case and the recent decision to
send an ambassador to Cairo.
"It's impossible for countries that are in front of each
other not to have high-level political and diplomatic
relations," Alfano told a joint session of the Lower House and
Senate foreign affairs committees.
Last month Italy decided to send ambassador Giampaolo Cantini
to Cairo, citing progress in cooperation in the investigation of
the 2016 torture and murder of the Italian post-graduate student
in Egypt.
Cantini will take up the position September 14.
He was appointed to replace Maurizio Massari, the ambassador
who was the first to see Regeni's disfigured body, but had not
taken up his position due to frustration in Rome about the lack
of cooperation from the Egyptian authorities.
Alfano told parliament that "Egypt is an inextricable partner
of Italy, like Italy is an inextricable partner of Egypt".
He said the case was "a serious injury for our conscience,
for all of us and for the whole country".
He admitted that "the day the body of Giulio Regeni was
found, bilateral relations suffered a big blow".
Alfano also told parliament that the search for the truth
about the murder of Regeni will include "the British institution
for which Giulio was conducting his research" - Cambridge
University.
He said Cantini "will have a relationship of cooperation with
his British colleague in the Egyptian capital" over the Regeni
case when he takes up the role.
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