President Pedro Pires will depart next week for a seven-day official visit to Italy on invitation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Alongside his participation in the FAO’s 34th conference and in a special event on forests and energy, Pedro Pires will also meet with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, with Cape Verde’s honorary consuls in Italy and with the local Cape Verdean community.

Pedro Pires will head Monday to Italy, accompanied by a delegation that will include a number of members of the Cape Verdean government. The invitation for the trip came from FAO general director Jacques Diouf as a part of the Organization’s 34th conference, which will be held from November 17 to 24.

The Cape Verdean head of state will hold meetings with the FAO’s African group and with its Community of Portuguese Language Countries group, and will also participate in a special event on forests and energy. A meeting with the executive director of the World Food Program, Josette Sheerham, and with the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Lennard Boge, are also on the President’s agenda.

Pires will also meet with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, and may visit the Vatican to meet with the Pope.

During his seven-day stay in Italy, the Cape Verdean President will also Cape Verde’s embassy and consulates in the country, including its honorary consulates in Turin and Naples. The respective consuls in these cities, Pierggiorgio Gili and Giuseppi Ricciuli, will be decorated by Pedro Pires on November 25.

Source: A Semana