CAIRO, Mar 1 (Aswat Masriya) - Italy's Ambassador to Egypt, Maurizio Massari, has said that his country is willing to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve the Renaissance Dam crisis.

Egypt’s Irrigation Minister, Mohamed Abdel Motteleb, visited Italy in February in an attempt to convince European countries to halt their support for the dam building process due to its negative impact on Egypt’s water security.

Italian companies working on building the Great Renaissance Dam are private ones, and the government has no authority over them, Massari told that state-owned Ahram newspaper on Saturday.

Italian law guarantees these companies the right to work anywhere in the world with total freedom, Massari stated.

We fully understand the importance of this issue to Egypt, he added.

During Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy’s visit to Italy, we informed him of our country’s willingness to act as mediator to melt the ice and reach a compromise through direct talks between the two countries, Massari explained.

The ambassador pointed that Italy’s Deputy Foreign Minister has visited Ethiopia and tried to persuade Ethiopian officials to start a dialogue with Egypt.

He also emphasised that his country is fully prepared to meet any requests from Egypt in that regard.