ROME: Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will visit Libya next month to offer his support for the country’s transitional government led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
The new Libyan administration emerged from a complex UN-sponsored process launched in November in Tunis.
Addressing the Senate (the upper house of Italy’s Parliament) ahead of this week’s European summit, Draghi said his trip would take place on April 6 or 7 and was aimed at defending Italian international interests and cooperation in Libya.
“The Italian government’s foreign policy position is to support the government of national unity in Libya with the aim of holding elections in early December,” the premier added.
Draghi noted that “various mercenary and non-mercenary components are starting to leave the country” which he said was “necessary for the ceasefire to be respected.”
An adviser to the Italian PM told Arab News: “Libya is extremely important for Italy. The prime minister’s decision to go to Tripoli aims to show a clear sign of how much we care about the stability and prosperity of that country.
“Italy and the EU need a stable and democratic Libya, and Italy will do its best, in cooperation with the EU and all of its member states, for this to be a reality.
“We are very close geographically, and together we can solve several problems, beginning with migration from North Africa to Europe.”
Meanwhile, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio announced he would be visiting Libya this week with his German and French counterparts, Heiko Maas and Jean-Yves Le Drian, respectively, as part of a European mission in which Italy aimed to present itself as a priority interlocutor of Dbeibah’s new government.
In a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Di Maio stressed the importance of “guaranteeing greater stability in Libya” and the Mediterranean.
“North Africa in general is an area where we preserve important geostrategic interest,” an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source told Arab News.
“To us, Libya represents a national security issue, and it is good for the EU to speak with one voice, sharing risks, objectives, and opportunities for growth and development of that country.”
