Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, is in Cairo for a systemic mission focusing on food security. The aim of the mission – in which also the Italian Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, participates – is to launch an Italy-Egypt partnership on food safety in order to strengthen the Egyptian food system and intensify bilateral cooperation in the agrifood field.
During the mission, meetings will be held with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and various Government Ministers (Supply and Internal Trade; International Cooperation; Agriculture and Land Reclamation; Trade and Industry; Higher Education and Scientific Research; Water Resources and Irrigation), with whom current issues of common interest will also be discussed.
With its population of over 100 million, Egypt is one of the Mediterranean countries most affected by the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine; the mission to Egypt is the first operational follow-up to the Mediterranean Ministerial Dialogue on the Food Security Crisis, which was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tajani in Rome last December.
Minister Tajani is accompanied by the CEO of Filiera Italia, Luigi Scordamaglia, and by the Secretary General of Coldiretti, Vincenzo Gesmundo, as well as by representatives of numerous Italian bodies and companies and of international organisations involved in the food security sector, who will identify joint projects for the development and strengthening of the Egyptian agri-food chain during technical sessions with their local counterparts.