DI MAIO: ITALY WANTS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH LIBYA
DI MAIO: ITALY WANTS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH LIBYA
The Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi di Maio, said his country wanted to develop relations with Libya to reach a strategic partnership.
Di Maio arrived Sunday in Tripoli on an unannounced visit and met with the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, the Head of the Presidential Council, Mohammed Menfi, as well as his two deputies, Abdullah Al-Lafi and Mossa Al-Koni and Foreign Minister, Najla Al-Mangoush.
The media office of Dbeibah said di Maio expressed Italy's desire to boost trust between the two countries, reiterating Rome's support for Libya and readiness to help in the process of unifying state institutions, adding that Italy had started increasing the number of its diplomatic mission staffers in Libya.
Dbeibah also discussed with di Maio forming a joint committee to revive bilateral relations in development and trade activities between Libya and Italy, in addition to the file of illegal immigration, which he said wasn't linked to Libya only as it is a transit country not a source one and that there must be a coordinated policy to solve this issue from the source to target countries of immigration.
"Europe shouldn't talk about Libya in terms of illegal immigration issues only, cooperation in other areas is need as well." Di Maio indicated.
Sources of this article:
Abdulkader Assad (libyaobserver.ly)