The First Study Visit under the Twinning Project on Occupational Health and Safety Concluded Successfully

From May 18 to 22 in Rome, the first study visit of the Egyptian functionaries from the Ministry of Manpower under the Twinning project “Organizational Modernization of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Management System” was held with the aim of giving support to the Egyptian Ministry for undertaking institutional reforms on health and safety at work. The Egyptian delegation was led by Mr Yehia Amn Radwan, one of the Directors for Labour from the Egyptian Embassy in Italy, and by Engineer Roberto Cianotti, Resident Twinning Adviser, who is in charge of coordinating the activities in the beneficiary country throughout the entire duration of the project.
The project which was embarked on by the Subsecretary of Labour Policy, Senator Pasquale Viespoli, and the Egyptian Minister, Aisha Abdel Hady in Cario last February, has been “an initiative of great relevance and interest”  Claudio Pacifico, the Ambassador of Italy in Egypt observed ”which absolutely testifies the high level of cooperation between Italy and Egypt, characterized by factual projects and concrete results”.
The study visit had the objective to contribute toward the dissemination of information about the intervention system on health and safety at work applied in Italy and in particular, represents an occasion for comparison/sharing of experiences and operational methods between the Italian and Egyptian Public Administrations which are the concrete expression of some of the topics dealt with by the Italian functionaries involved in the project. 
The programme was organized as follows: During the first one-day meeting session to the Ministry of Work, Health and Social Policies, the Italian Project Leader, Mr. Umberto Mastropietro,  opened the event with a welcome address to the Egyptian delegation. The ministry structure and its role on protection of workers were also outlined.
On the second and third meeting sessions, the Egyptian functionaries were invited by ISPESL and INAIL to meetings focussing on the exchange of information and experiences. In this regard, the Italian functionaries presented some significant aspects of their activities on occupational health and safety.
In conclusion, an interesting visit to the ENEL power plant in Civitavecchia was carried out, so that the institutional delegation had the possibility of observing how Italy's systems are implemented in the field.
The visit provided, in the first place, the opportunity for combining theoretical aspects and on-the-field experiences as far as the project theme was concerned. This was also a further occasion for contributing toward the encounter of two civilisations aiming at achieving common objectives.