Trade and Industry Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour will start a visit to Italy in the first week of May that covers the cities of Rome and Milan.

In a statement, the ministry said Abdel Nour met Thursday with Italian Ambassador to Egypt Maurizio Massari in preparation of the visit.

During the visit, the minister will meet the Italian side to the joint Egypt-Italy business council.

He will hold a roundtable conference with members of the Lombardy Industrial Federation (Assolombarda) and visit the Egyptian pavilion at Expo Milano 2015.

Abdel Nour will also hold meetings with Grimaldi Group, a private shipping company, to probe the reactivation of a navigation line between Egypt and Italy, the ministry said in the statement.