Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti on Friday stressed her country's gratitude for the success of the New Suez Canal.

In a statement earlier in the day, Pinotti, who attended the ceremony to inaugurate the new waterway, congratulated the Egyptian people, as well as President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

She highlighted the historic importance of the Suez Canal.

Sisi inaugurated Thursday the New Suez Canal in a great celebration attended by world leaders.

The new 72-kilometer waterway, dug in less than a year at a cost of 60 billion pounds, runs part of the way alongside the existing canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

The legendary project was financed by investment certificates sold to Egyptians.