Italy to conduct another mission to Egypt by year's end

The announcement came during Egyptian prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab's visit as part of his country's National Day celebrations. ''There is a great deal of interest in Egypt,'' she said.

''We believe that Egypt is an essential nation - of course to create new directions that are ever more important from economic and trade points of view, but also to strengthen political-diplomatic dialogue.'' Guidi added that the bilateral meetings had included discussion on strategic sectors such as infrastructure as well as ones in which ''we can try to create collaboration not only with large enterprises, but also for the entire production chain made up of many Italian SMEs.'' She stressed the important role of Africa in the energy sector, saying that it ''has always been on our agenda''.