Libya seeks increased security assistance from Rome conference: FM

TRIPOLI

Libya will demand from the world's major powers in a Rome-hosted meeting on Thursday increased security support and training assistance to help build its police and army forces, Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdulaziz said.

The Libyan delegation to the international conference will include Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and a number of other ministers including the interior and defense ministers, as well as Speaker of the General National Conference (Libya's interim parliament) Nouri Abu Sahmein, Abdulaziz told Anadolu Agency.

He added that members of the Libyan civil society and national dialogue conference will also take part in the delegation, adding that no representatives for Libyan tribes will be present.

Representatives from neighboring and foreign states will be attending the one-day international conference, which is the second edition to a Paris conference held last February.

Delegations from Russia, China and a number of Scandinavian countries are expected to attend the conference, along with foreign ministers from the G8 group as well as Europe.

Bordering countries to the North African nation will also be represented in the conference with the aim of increasing cooperation on border security, Abdulaziz asserted.

Both conferences have been organized by international Friends of Libya group, set up in March 2011 following a London conference on Libya which was attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and representatives from NATO.

The Libyan government had earlier announced that the Rome conference will tackle means of supporting the tumultuous Arab Spring state in its democratic transition.

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