Italy is still strongly committed to its war-ravaged former colony's stabilisation and transition to a stable democracy, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio, told Libya's High Council of State president, Khaled Ammar Al-Meshri during talks in Rome on Wednesday.
The Italian government remains determined to work with Libya's unified interim executive and "with all the branches of the Libyan state" in the political process in which the top advisory body must play "a decisive and constructive role", Di Maio said, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Di Maio recalled the urgency to define the constitutional and legal basis of landmark elections slated for 24 December and to approve the necessary electoral law allowing the Libyan people to pick their government, said the statement.
Di Maio also underlined the opportunity to preserve the key security achievements of UN-brokered talks between senior officers from Libya's rival factions in particular the reopening of the Sirte-Misurata coastal road and the release of prisoners, the statement noted.
The minister also "recalled the urgent need" to fully implement last October's ceasefire accord between Libya's warring sides, "starting with the withdrawal of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from the country".
Di Maio also confirmed Italy's commitment to support the intra-Libyan reconciliation process, included in the underdeveloped southern Fezzan region, according to the statement.
Approval of a unified national budget for 2021 is crucial to enable the transitional government to implement its reform and development agenda, improve social conditions and relaunch Libya's economy, Di Maio also told Meshri.
Italy also wants "to further consolidate the process of relaunching the Italian-Libyan partnership," the statement concluded.
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