Readout of the President’s call with Italian President Napolitano

The President spoke today with Italian President Napolitano to congratulate Italy and the Italian people on the 150th anniversary of Italian unification and to express his deep appreciation for President Napolitano and Prime Minister Berlusconi’s promotion of peace and stability across the world and steadfast support of coalition operations in Libya under NATO’s command.  President Obama recognized Italy’s expertise in the region and agreed to continue the closest consultations between our two governments as we work to protect the Libyan people and enforce UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973.