Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council can make an "important" contribution to the two-day international conference on Libya that opened in the Sicilian city of Palermo on Monday, Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte said.
"Our objective, shared by the international community, is a stable Libya with institutions chosen by the Libyan people," he said.
"Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and prominent international player, can make a important contribution to this," Conte stated.
Besides Russia, which has sent its prime minister Dimitri Medvedev, many European and Gulf states have high-level delegates at the meeting and European Union president Donald Tusk and foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini are also attending, said Conte.
"And I hope that (Libya's powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar will take part because he is certainly one of the key figures in the stabilisation of his country," Conte added.
Haftar will attend a "separate" summit at an undisclosed location on the sidelines of the Palermo summit, together with Conte, Medvedev and the presidents of Egypt, Tunisia, Chad and Niger, The Address news site, reported on Monday. The website is close to Haftar.
