Thaher al-Sonni, top political aide to Libya's United Nations backed premier Fayez al-Sarraj on Wednesday held talks in Rome with senior Italian officials and Libyan diplomats ahead of an international conference next month in Palermo on stabilising the conflict-wracked country, the Tripoli-based presidential council said in a statement.
During the meeting, Sonni reviewed "the latest developments in Libya" and the upcoming 12-13 November conference in Palermo with Pietro Benassi, diplomatic advisor to Italian premier Giuseppe Conte, and with the director of the Italian foreign ministry's political affairs department, Sebastiano Cardi, the statement said.
"Political and security developments, as well as pathways for cooperation and coordination between Italy and Libya, international efforts and support for the UN mission (UNSMIL) were discussed."
"The talks also covered the proposed conference agenda and its objectives," the statement added.
Also present at Wednesday's meeting were Libya's ambassador to the European Union, Hafez Kaddour and the charge d'affaires at the Libyan embassy in Rome, Mohammed al-Maghur, according to the statement.
During the talks, Sonni underlined "the importance of coordinating ongoing consultations with Libyan parties involved (in the conference) as this can help it get concrete and tangible results... in order to unify divergent positions on political, security and economic issues," the statement went on.
Italy is hoping all key Libyan and international players will attend the conference, whose goal is to help bring peace and build the political consensus needed for democracy to succeed in the oil-rich country.
Libya, a former Italian colony, has been in turmoil since the UN-backed ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with rival administrations in Tripoli and in the east who are backed by a myriad of militias, while various jihadist groups operate in the country.
