Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told Italian lawmakers on Tuesday that Egypt is committed to bringing the killers of Italian student Giulio Regeni to justice, according to a statement by the presidency.

El-Sisi stressed to a delegation from the Italian senate’s defence committee in Cairo the importance of “continued close cooperation between investigators of both countries,” according presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef.

Regeni, a PhD student at Cambridge University, was found murdered and bearing signs of torture in 2016 in Cairo days after he went missing on 25 January.

Regeni had been in Cairo for several weeks to conduct research on independent trade unions.

The killing strained relations between Cairo and Rome, with the European country withdrawing its ambassador in April 2016.

Egypt has strongly denied rumours that Egyptian security forces were involved in Regeni's murder.

Several meetings between Egyptian prosecutors and their Italian counterparts have taken place to discuss the investigation into the killing.

In January 2017, Egypt’s prosecutor-general agreed to a request by his Italian counterpart to provide Italy with CCTV footage related to the case.