The United States could play a "decisive" role in bringing lasting peace to war-torn Libya and should use its full weight to help achieve this goal, Italy's president Sergio Mattarella told US vice-president Mike Pence on Friday.
Libya is of "primary" importance to Italy, both due to its energy resources but owing also to the security threat that "a country in a permanent state of war" poses to North Africa's stability, Mattarella told Pence during his first visit to Rome as US vice-president.
Mattarella told Pence that the US could be "decisive" in helping make permanent the ceasefire agreed this month by Libya's warring sides and in implementing the pledge made by world powers at a Berlin summit last week to respect the much-violated UN arms embargo in Libya.
Pence in turn told Mattarella that trade and security ties between the US and Italy were "strong" and thanked Italy for its role as "one of the US's most important security partners".
A total 30,000 US military and civilian personnel are stationed in Italy - the second largest US deployment in Italy, Pence said.
"Over 20 million Italian-Americans have made an immense contribution to our country and represent the essence and strength of relations between our two countries in a unique way," Pence said.
He thanked Mattarella for his "strong leadership" as Italy's head of state.
