(Adnkronos) – Italy, Egypt, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US on Thursday underlined their unwavering commitment to Libya’s unity, stability, and prosperity and its people’s dream of lasting peace.
“Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America reaffirm our commitment to supporting the Libyan people’s pursuit of unity, stability, and prosperity and their aspirations to achieve lasting peace,” read a joint statement.
“We welcome the Security Council’s decision to extend the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and the roadmap developed by SRSG (the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative) for Libya Hanna Tetteh, and urge all Libyan stakeholders to use this roadmap and UNSMIL facilitation to advance a Libyan-led political process toward unified governance and elections,” the statement continued.
“We also affirm our commitment to support increased military and economic coordination between western and eastern Libyan stakeholders,” the statement said.
The statement referred to the country’s rival administrations – the UN backed Government of National Unity and High State Council in Tripoli and the House of Representatives in the eastern city of Benghazi.
“We welcome Libyan efforts to integrate Libya’s security forces and urge Libyan leaders to take further steps to expand and institutionalize east-west military coordination and unification,” said the statement.
“We also urge steps to strengthen Libyan economic institutions, notably the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Central Bank of Libya, and Audit Bureau. In this respect, we commend the appointment of an official chairman of NOC in a decree issued on 29 September,” the statement went on.
The statement also hailed a deal for a ‘Unified Development Programme’ signed by representatives of the House of Representatives and High State Council on 18 November: a move aimed at uniting the finances of Libya’s divided administrations, which was announced by the central bank (CBL).
“These steps have the potential to set Libya on a path toward more sustainable economic policy and greater prosperity, laying the groundwork for successful implementation of the NOC’s programme to boost energy production and economic growth, bolstering the CBL and Libya’s financial stability, and providing for development projects throughout the country with a mutually agreed oversight framework,” the statement underlined.
“Increased economic and security integration is essential to ensuring Libya’s sovereignty, security, and long-term prosperity, and will complement and strengthen the political process,” the statement added.
“A strong and prosperous Libya with unified economic, military, and political institutions is in all of our interests, the statement concluded.
