Italy / Minister Terzi meets the Tunisian Foreign Minister, Kefi

ROME, Italy, November 23, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Giulio Terzi, had a conversation with the Tunisian Foreign Minister, Mouldi Kefi, this morning in Kuwait City. The meeting took place in the margins of the Forum for the Future. With his Tunisian colleague, Minister Terzi reviewed the key bilateral issues currently on the agenda and noted the excellent level of cooperation in sectors of common priority interest. He then expressed his warmest wishes for the work of the Constituent Assembly, which was elected in October and is meeting today, 22 November 2011, for its first session. Minister Terzi expressed the hope that the Assembly “can lay the foundations for a solid democratic architecture by drawing up a framework of rules agreed by all elements of the Tunisian people”.

“Italy will continue to work to bring the two shores of the Mediterranean closer and closer together”, stated Terzi. The Minister underscored Italy's role in driving forward the Deauville Partnership and the active contribution it intends to give the Southern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The head of Italian diplomacy noted that “the goals of regional development, stability and security can only be pursued by adequately strengthening the framework of euro-Mediterranean cooperation”. In Terzi's view, “it is important to exploit to the best possible effect the potential of all the existing fora so that the countries of the area can be given concrete prospects for growth and development”.

Minister Kefi, for his part, expressed great appreciation of Italy's action to foster closer relations between Europe and the southern shore of the Mediterranean. He assured Minister Terzi of Tunisia's firm commitment to European cooperation and neighbourhood policies.