Italy's Prime Minister Says Got Assurances From Libya To Observe Ceasefire

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Tuesday that he got assurances of Libya's commitment to the ceasefire from his Libyan counterpart, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, during the ongoing visit to Tripoli

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2021) Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Tuesday that he got assurances of Libya's commitment to the ceasefire from his Libyan counterpart, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, during the ongoing visit to Tripoli.

Draghi arrived in the Libyan capital earlier in the day together with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, marking his first official foreign visit. He has already held talks with Dbeibah.

"It is time to recover, look forward and move quickly and decisively. The prerequisite to it is the continuity and strict implementation of the ceasefire. The security of objects is an important requirement for continuing the cooperation. During our meeting [with Dbeibah] I got serious assurances of it," Draghi said at a televised press conference after the meeting.

The Libyan prime minister, in turn, said that they reached an agreement to convene a joint Libyan-Italian economic committee as the economic cooperation is what Libya prioritizes on the bilateral agenda, alongside the fight against illegal migration, among other items.

To this end, Dbeibah called for resuming the 2008 bilateral Treaty on Friendship.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias are also on a visit in Tripoli simultaneously with their Italian counterparts to discuss the restoration of relations with Libya.

The civil conflict between rival Libyan political factions had lasted for almost a decade before they managed to negotiate a ceasefire under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva last October. A new round of intra-Libyan talks this February led to the election of an interim unity government.