Europe's security depends on stopping Mediterranean migration, Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio stated on Friday, calling for "a joint effort" from the European Union to stabilise the war-torn country.
"We need a joint effort from the EU, because stabilising Libya also means bolstering our country's security and therefore that of the whole of Europe, by halting the migration influx," Di Maio wrote on Facebook.
Italy is seeking to raise awareness "also in Europe" that peace, political stability and economic revival in Libya are "key", Di Maio wrote.
Libya's premier Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and a Libyan delegation will attend a business forum in Rome aimed at boosting commercial ties between Italy and Libya, Di Maio noted.
"New opportunities for our companies and developement prospects for Libya," the post added.
Di Maio, his Maltese counterpart Everist Bartolo and European neighbourhood and enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi held talks in Tripoli on Friday with top officials who are understood to have included Dbeibah, foreign minister Najla Mangoush and interior minister Khaled Mazen, according to diplomatic sources.
