The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, received today at the Foreign Ministry the Vice-President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi.
The Minister reiterated Italy’s strong commitment to support the stabilisation of the country and reasserted its determination to cooperate with the interim authority and with the entire Libyan State to support the forthcoming stages of the political process.
He stressed the importance of ensuring that elections are held on 24 December, in order to provide Libya with a lasting prospect of stabilisation and development. With this in mind, Minister Di Maio emphasised the importance of an inclusive and constructive approach by all Libyan institutions in defining a shared legislative and constitutional framework for holding the elections.
Minister Di Maio then confirmed Italy’s commitment to supporting the intra-Libyan reconciliation process, including Fezzan, expressing appreciation for the efforts made in this area by the Presidential Council and reiterating Italy’s commitment to stabilising the south of the country.
The Foreign Minister also stressed the need to preserve the important results achieved so far by the 5+5 Joint Military Commission in the area of security, underlining the need to achieve full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, beginning with the withdrawal of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from the country. In this context, he stressed the importance of coordinating security initiatives, a conviction shared by all Libyan actors and anchored to the Berlin process.
At the bilateral level, the Minister confirmed Italy’s willingness to further consolidate the process of relaunching the Italian-Libyan partnership.