Libya – Paris ministerial meeting - Italy among top three contributors to security, says Terzi

ROME, Italy, February 12, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Italy is among the top three contributors to security in Libya and is planning no less than 80 programmes, mainly concerning border control. This was the comment by Minister Giulio Terzi from Paris, where he attended an international conference on security, justice and rule of law in Libya. The meeting was co-chaired by French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and Libyan foreign minister Mohammed Abdelaziz.

“Looking at the masterplan drafted by the United Nations on the basis of the data supplied by individual countries, it is clear that Italy is among the top three contributors to Libyan security”, Terzi asserted, explaining that France and the UK are each currently in the process of implementing 36 projects, as compared to Italy's 35”.

80 border control programmes

Nevertheless, the minister added, “if we look at the programmes in the planning stages, we have no less than 80 regarding Libya, well in excess of those expected from all the others”, and “I am confident that these plans are realistic”, Terzi continued, explaining that Italy would mainly be dealing with controls at the southern borders, which are “the most strategic to Libya's internal stability”, in as much as “there are still deeply entrenched movements sustained by former loyalists, who infiltrate and slip back and forth across borders creating a framework of instability”. “The situation on the ground is still considerably worrisome on the level of security, but we and the other countries present at today's meeting are confident that it can be remedied in the coming months”, he assured.

Next conference in Italy

The foreign minister also underscored that Italy had “very much supported” the Paris meeting, since “we are profoundly convinced that the progress and success of the stabilisation of Libya, and the establishment of a solid democracy, depend to a large extent on the level of international support and on the determination with which the countries most involved in the Libyan question are able to act and maintain a common agenda”. Terzi also tweeted that the “Paris meeting confirms Italy's approach: Libyan stability is a European and international community priority”. The next international conference in this format is to be held in Italy.