The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Manlio Di Stefano, is visiting Algeria and has had numerous meetings with members of the Algerian Government (including the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Energy, Foreign Trade, Industry and Mining). In all his meetings, to date, Mr Di Stefano first and foremost expressed Italy’s sincere thanks for the friendship shown by the Algerian people towards Italy, in the face of the COVID-19 infection, and the trust placed in the response to the crisis by the Italian Government.
At the heart of his talks were the organisation of the fourth Bilateral Summit, scheduled to be held in Algiers in the first half of 2020, and the preparations for the forthcoming session of the strategic Dialogue, which will be held in Rome, with a related “Business Forum”.
With regard to regional policy, Undersecretary Di Stefano also tackled with the Foreign Minister, Mr. Boukadoum, the issue of the Libyan conflict, agreeing on the importance of supporting the “diplomatic efforts recently deployed by both Countries towards a political solution to the Libyan crisis”.
Last but not least, Mr. Boukadoum and Undersecretary Di Stefano have decided to set up a joint committee for delimiting the respective maritime areas of exclusive interest, between the two Countries, according to the principles laid down in the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. This will be a first significant step towards the fulfilment of a fair and mutually acceptable solution and to further promote bilateral relations in this field too.
“We must repeat, once again – said Undersecretary Di Stefano – that, contrary to the political speculations artificially created in Italy, the maritime interests of our Country are not at all threatened by Algeria, a friend of Italy, committed to dialogue. Together with Algiers, in fact, we are about to engage in a new agreement on the management of our common interests in the Mediterranean Sea.”
The visit will end tomorrow, after a working meeting chaired by Undersecretary Di Stefano and involving the Algerian and Italian business and employers’ organisations, preliminary to the forthcoming Italian-Algerian Business Forum.
