(19 July 2017) With the aim of working with a group of experts on the development of agreements on cultural cooperation with the North African country, the director of BMTA, Ugo Picarelli, met in Tunisia with the minister of tourism and craft, Selma Elloum Rekik, and the minister of cultural affairs, Mohamed Zine al Abidine, at the invite of Tunisian ambassador to Italy, Moez Sinaoui. For the Exchange this appointment, in the year of its twenty-year anniversary scheduled in Paestum from October 26 to 29, was included in the visit of Tourism Undersecretary Dorina Bianchi, present with a delegation of tour operators and journalists and accompanied by the vice President of the Chamber’s Production Activities and President of the Tourism Parliamentary Observatory Ignazio Abrignani. The occasion was important to share with the Italian Ambassador in Tunis, Raimondo De Cardona, that the collaborations can be implemented and carried out through the Italian Institute of Culture directed by Maria Vittoria Longhi. The Exchange visited the Bardo Museum, meeting director Mouncef Ben Moussa and reiterating its annual commitment to convey the memory of March 2015: to emphasize the friendship with Bardo it will invite Paestum Hamadi Ben Abdesslem, the tour guide that saved 45 Italians during Isis’ terrorist attack, sheltering them from a service exit. In the meeting with the Tunisian ministers, with the Cultural Tourism Directorate of the Ministry of Tourism and with the National Institute of Heritage, in the light of the recent reform of cultural heritage, the future collaborations concerning twinnings with the cities of the Roman era, restoration of works of art, exchange of experiences on virtual archeology, excavation of new archaeological missions. (Red)
