Italy and the United States are engaged in "intense" dialogue over Libya and realise that international stability depends on joint efforts to bring peace to the war-torn country, ambassador Armando Varricchio said on Friday.
"Dialogue between Italy and the States on the Libyan crisis is intense and ongoing," Varricchio told an ambassadorial conference in Rome.
The US and Italy both understand the importance of the Mediterranean region and that a solution to the Libyan conflict will not only benefit neighbouring countries "but international stability", he said.
"Traditionally Libya is fragile, it does not have a tradition of national unity," Varricchio stated.
"But what it clear from the latest events is that nobody alone - either inside or outside Libya - can solve its problems," he said
"We must work together," Varricchio underlined.
Varricchio's comments came amid a more-than-three-month-old battle for control of Tripoli between eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar's forces and militias allied to the internationally recognised government, in which at least 1,093 people have died, the UN said last week.
Haftar must inevitably be an interlocutor in any internationally mediated process aimed at resolving the Libyan conflict, Varricchio argued.
"He an important leader and an essential component (of any peace process). He represents a part of the country," Varricchio said.
He was speaking at the three-day Conference of Italian Ambassadors in Rome, which ended on Friday.
