Italy welcomes forthcoming conference on Libya in Berlin

Italy welcomes forthcoming conference on Libya in Berlin

Italian President Sergio Mattarella. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua/IANS)

Rome, Sep 19 (IANS/AKI) Italy's President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday hailed the international conference on war-wracked Libya that Germany will host in Berlin next month, calling it "an important step towards an agreement on a ceasefire".

"The Berlin conference on Libya is an important step towards an agreement on a ceasefire through a shared commitment by the European Union," he said.

Mattarella said he hoped the conference would lead to "solutions that finally allow that country to find stability, an immediate ceasefire, rule out any military solution and reach a political agreement under the auspices of United Nations special envoy (Ghassan) Salame".

To achieve this goal requires a "united commitment from Europe," Mattarella said.

"This is needed to avoid civil unrest...prevent greater leeway for the human traffickers and the creation of hotbeds of terrorism - with the risk of destabilising the entire North African region," he said after talks with his visiting German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier and and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

--IANS/AKI

vd