Italy's foreign undersecretary Ricardo Merlo has wrapped up a visit to El Salvador aimed at expanding business with the country and consolidating and deepening bilateral relations, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
During the visit this week, Merlo met with the Foreign Minister of El Salvador, Alexandra Hill, with whom he sat in the first meeting of the two Countries’ Bilateral Consultation Mechanism, the statement said.
At the meeting, Merlo underscored the interest expressed by Italian companies to participate in international tenders launched by the local government, highlighting the high level of Italian companies’ know-how and the excellence of the technologies they use.
"The meeting allowed a fruitful exchange of opinions on the major issues in the Latin American scenario, with a special focus on the crises in Venezuela and Nicaragua," the statement went on.
During their talks, Merlo invited Hill to the 9th Italy-Latin American and Caribbean Conference that is due to take place in Rome in October.
The Undersecretary then visited the headquarters of the Central American Integration System (SICA) where, with the Secretary General, Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo, he signed the Memorandum of Understanding on establishing a Political and Cooperation Forum of Dialogue between the the Italian foreign ministry and SICA, according to the statement.
“With this MoU, the relationship between Italy and Central American countries becomes increasingly solid and it also opens new perspectives for our companies,” Merlo said.
The Forum aims to consolidate periodic dialogue on issues of mutual interest and promote cooperation in areas such as the environment and sustainable development, security, democracy, education, tourism, culture and social affairs, as well as in other fields of common interest, said the statement.
The Forum also seeks to stimulate economic cooperation, trade and investments between Italy and SICA Member States, the statement added .
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