Italy's foreign minister, Libyan officials discuss ties

TRIPOLI, Libya

On an official visit to Libya, Italy's foreign minister met on Sunday with government officials of the North African country.

Head of Libya's Presidential Council Mohammad Menfi received Luigi Di Maio in the capital Tripoli, where the two discussed bilateral relations, the council said in a statement.

Among the topics discussed was the revival of a friendship treaty between Libya and Italy signed during the time of ousted Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, along with a project under the treaty to construct a motorway spanning the country's northern coast with the Mediterranean Sea.

Later, Di Maio also met Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

The Italian minister congratulated the National Unity Government on its vote of confidence from the Libyan parliament earlier this month.

Di Maio and Dbeibah discussed bilateral relations, as well as prior-agreed but unfinished projects between Rome and Tripoli.

On Feb. 5, Libyan delegates elected Menfi to head the three-member Presidential Council and Dbeibeh the new prime minister. The new executive authority will govern Libya in the lead-up to national elections on Dec. 24.

The Libyan parliament granted a vote of confidence to Dbeibeh's government on March 10 with 132 votes of the 133 lawmakers who attended the session.

Libyans hope it will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011.

*Writing by Sena Guler in Ankara