Stabilising Libya is still Italy's "strategic priority" and it has re-launched technical and military cooperation at a "decisive" point in the war-torn country's unification, defence minister Lorenzo Guerini said on Tuesday.
"Stabilising Libya remains our strategic priority," Guerini told the defence committees of Italy's lower house of parliament and the Senate.
"As part of the broader national effort aimed at bringing peace to the country, the defence ministry has therefore relaunched technical-military cooperation activities with the Libyan defence ministry," Guerini went on.
His address came on the day that Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives convened to debate holding a vote of confidence on an interim unified government picked last month through United Nations-mediated inter-Libyan dialogue
The defence ministry will help Italy's former colony to reorganise its operational structures and with training "in this decisive phase of the unitary reconstruction of Libyan institutions," said Guerini.
In December, Guerini signed a military cooperation accord with his Libyan counterpart and since July last year the defence ministry has been helping Libyan authorities with de-mining activities, despatching specialized personnel and vehicles and equipment, the minister said.
The European Union's Italian-led Irini anti-smuggling mission in the Mediterranean remains "crucial" to bringing lasting peace and stability to Libya, Guerini underlined.
