The Italian Ambassador to Tunis, Alessandro Prunas, was received by the Tunisian Minister of Defence, Khaled Shili, in a meeting that 'represented an opportunity to enhance the historical relations and long-standing friendship that unite the two friendly countries and the ways to strengthen and diversify military cooperation between the two sides'. This was stated in a note from the Tunisian ministry, in which Shili 'expressed his satisfaction with the existing cooperation between Tunisia and Italy in the field of maritime border control and coordination between the two sides to combat irregular immigration'. The minister, the note goes on to say, 'underlined the importance of the results of the meeting he had with Defence Minister Guido Crosetto last December on the sidelines of the 20th meeting of the 5+5 Defence Initiative in Madrid. Italy, underlined Shili, "is one of Tunisia's most important partners by virtue of the relations between the two friendly countries, praising the qualitative leap forward in the Italian-Tunisian partnership, which has taken the form, above all, of the implementation of development projects, such as the model for integrated development in the Regim Maatouq region, the one in the Al-Muhaddith region in the Al-Fawwar delegation in the Kebili governorate and the completion of the professional training institute for divers in Zarzis.
On the occasion of the 26th session of the Italian-Tunisian Military Committee, which Italy will host next April, Shili called for further strengthening cooperation, exploring new areas of partnership between the two sides, stressing the central role of Tunisia and Italy in the stabilisation of the region. For his part, the Italian ambassador "expressed his satisfaction with the excellent cooperation in the military and development sectors, underlining Italy's continued willingness to support efforts to develop the capabilities of the Tunisian army and support its role in development, stressing in this context that the development of the desert areas is a successful example of Italian-Tunisian cooperation and the fact that Italy will continue to cooperate with Tunisia to ensure the stability and security of the Mediterranean region".
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