CAIRO — Despite the differences between Egypt and Italy over the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian student whose body was found in Cairo on Feb. 3, 2016, Italian newspapers recently reported that Rome agreed to a major military deal with Cairo. 

According to experts and observers who spoke to Al-Monitor, military and economic cooperation between the two countries is steady and strong and unaffected by any differences.

According to Italy’s daily business newspaper Milano Finanza on Dec. 8, Rome agreed to a billion-dollar military deal with Cairo, with new financial guarantees from the Italian government to Egypt, which might include six frigates, 24 M-346 trainer jets, 24 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, 20 navy patrol boats and one military satellite.

During his visit to the industrial city in el-Roubiki in the Cairo governorate on Dec. 8, Martino Milli, director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, said that Rome supports production projects in Cairo and work is currently underway on a grant project of 3 million euros to develop several projects in Egypt.