The Italian government praised the eastern-based Libyan parliament's "important" approval on Wednesday of a transitional unity government led by businessman Abdelhamid Dbeibah to steer the war-torn country to December elections, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Italy welcomes with great satisfaction the outcome of the vote of the House of Representatives’ plenary session...granting confidence to the Government of National Unity led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dabaiba," said the statement.
"It is an important and encouraging result within the country’s normalization process, leading the way to an effective institutional transition in favour of the unity of Libya," the statement went on.
After two days of intense debate, the Tobruk-based parliament on Wednesday approved Dbeibah's cabinet line-up, with 121 of the 132 lawmakers present voting in favour, his spokesman said.
Dbeibah, from the western city of Misrata, who was picked last month at UN-sponsored talks in Geneva, last week presented his proposed cabinet to parliament speaker Aguila Saleh. It includes 33 ministers and two deputy premiers who he said are representative of Libya’s different geographic areas and social segments.
"After a decade of conflict, Libyans have shown their great will and determination to overcome differences through dialogue. The large majority the Libyan Parliament granted confidence to the Government of National Unity is further evidence of this renewed sense of unity," said the foreign ministry statement.
"Based on our Countries deep and historical ties and friendship, Italy remains alongside the Libyan people," the statement added.
Libya was an Italian colony from 1911-1943 and Italy has sought to spearhead efforts to stabilise the oil-rich country which has been ravaged by conflict since the Nato-led ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It has had rival administrations in Tripoli and the east since 2014.
