"Italy's clear understanding of the importance and need to support the political correction and economic recovery underway in Tunisia is extremely important for Tunisia and for its relations with Tunisia", said Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, on Friday in a speech delivered at a ceremony organised to mark Italy's Republic Day.
Ammar noted that these "intense and diversified relations are strengthened over time and will be further consolidated by the interweaving of common interests between the two countries".
The Foreign Minister thanked Italy for all its efforts to explain the Tunisian point of view to partner countries and friends, describing the Italian position as "intelligent and constructive" stemming from "a long-term, forward-looking vision that requires this approach to be pursued".
He stressed that the urgent challenges facing all Mediterranean countries today and in other parts of the world "go beyond the capacities of individual States and require all of us to raise solidarity to the level of a fundamental value more quickly than ever before".
With regard to the issue of migration, the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed the hope that the proposal by the President of the Republic Kais Saied, to organise a regional seminar on migration with the participation of the countries concerned, would receive a positive response in order to deal effectively with this phenomenon and tackle it in a way that takes account of the humanitarian dimension.
The Head of State proposed holding such a seminar during his recent meeting in Tunis with the Italian Minister of the Interior.
Relations between Tunisia and Italy were the focus of a telephone call on Friday between President Kais Saied and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who accepted the Head of State's invitation to pay an official visit to Tunisia next week, said a press release from the Presidency of the Republic.
Mrs Meloni called on the IMF, at the G7 Hiroshima Summit (Japan) at the end of May, to adopt a "practical" approach to disbursing funds to Tunisia without preconditions.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse