The UN-backed Libyan prime minister Fayez Serraj on Wednesday met with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio in Libyan capital Tripoli, according to a statement issued by the Libyan prime minister’s information office.
“The two sides stressed the importance of returning to the political track and rejecting negative external interventions in the Libyan affairs,” the statement said.
The two sides also discussed the European Operation IRINI against arms smuggling to Libya, where the prime minister reiterated the need for the operation to be “comprehensive and integrated by land, air and sea.”
The Operation IRINI was launched recently in order to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya, where Serraj’s UN-backed government and the rival eastern-based army were engaged in deadly armed conflict over control of Tripoli for more than a year.
The officials also discussed closure of the oil ports and fields in Libya and the need to resume exporting oil, the statement said.
According to the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), Libya has lost about 6 billion U.S. dollars since the closure of the country’s oil ports and fields in January.
