#News: #Italy #Libya Terzi in Tripoli -Solid friendship, stability and security common priorities

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

#Italy #Libya Terzi in Tripoli -Solid friendship, stability and security common priorities

Italy-Libya: Terzi in Tripoli -Solid friendship, stability and security common priorities http://goo.gl/fb/zTfiU

11:15 AM - 7 Nov 12 · Details

Posted November 7, 2012 & filed under Africa, News.

ROME, Italy, November 7, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Minister Giulio Terzi, the first foreign minister since the formation of the new Libyan government, flew to Tripoli to “confirm the solid friendship between Italy and Libya and the partnership between the Italian government and the newly installed Libyan government”. “It is a great honour for me”, Terzi underscored, “as well as a very attractive opportunity, to be here in these early hours of the new government's activities, and to be able to generate an immediate dialogue and concrete interaction on the many questions that so deeply concern our two nations”.

Stability and security

“Stability and security are priorities for both our governments, and we intend to cooperate in these areas”, the minister explained, who was in the Libyan capital to meet with President of the Libyan National Congress Mohammed Mgarief and Premier Ali Zidane. “Our firms”, he added, “have been working for years in partnership with the Libyans, and intend to continue to do so”.

Illegal immigration a humanitarian priority

Among the questions confronted was illegal immigration, which was “a concern to both nations”, Terzi affirmed. In particular, “my government and public opinion itself are concerned with the highly serious humanitarian impact on persons who regularly risk their lives after having been deceived by human traffickers”. Pointing out that both nations wish to respect international conventions, especially those concerning human rights, Terzi underscored the importance of “collaboration with the United Nations and, more specifically, with the UNHCR”, which must be able to “set up offices on Libyan soil”.

“Libya's positive contribution at international level”

Premier Zidane stated that “starting today Libya will no longer be a State that creates problems or that exports extremist ideas”, but rather will make “a positive contribution at international level based on cooperation and mutual respect”. The new government, he reported, “will swear to shoulder the task next week”.

Regarding bilateral relations with Italy, the issue of approximately €600 million in loans claimed by Italian firms working in Libya in the days of Gedaffi, Zidane explained to journalists: “We will provide for the fulfillment of our pledges but we are bound by circumstances”. “Italy is our top partner”, he continued, “and we mean to preserve our relations. We will do everything possible to facilitate a solution to the problems inherited from the past”. “It is our hope”, he concluded, “that our friends, our neighbours and our partners will take into consideration and comprehend our needs and the moment that in which we find ourselves”.

Terzi reported his “satisfaction” with the Libyan premier's statements and assured him of the “Italian government's intention to collaborate closely on political, security and economic planes”. “The problem raised by these loans”, Terzi added, “along with other questions regarding infrastructures and energy, are issues that we intend to discuss and that will be reformulated within the framework of this new partnership