Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will receive Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush in Moscow on Thursday. The main topic of the talks will be the current situation in the African country, which is in the process of restoring statehood.
Recent events in Afghanistan once again proved the danger of external interference in the internal affairs of the state. Libya has long topped the list of unstable regions, but the country has maintained a truce for more than a year, achieved through the considerable mediation efforts of Moscow. Against this backdrop, ministers are expected to pay special attention to the successes achieved in normalizing the situation in Libya and discuss further steps on this path. The ongoing crises in the Middle East and North Africa pose a threat of the spread of international terrorism, the fight against which is a foreign policy priority for Russia. The elimination of another hotbed of tension in the region as a result of the unification of the Libyan people is fully consistent with this task.
"We advocate that Libyan leaders show a high sense of responsibility, abandon the bet on weapons and begin to jointly address the urgent tasks facing the country. Among the priorities is the fight against terrorism and extremist ideology, which can only be dealt with by concerted actions," the Russian foreign ministry said on the eve of the Lavrov-Mangush meeting.
Stability in Libya is also important in terms of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and the participation of Russian companies in joint projects in this country. However, as pointed out in the Russian Foreign Ministry, for this the Libyans "need to achieve a radical improvement in the security situation and the formation of permanent Libyan authorities and administration". "However, there are areas where effective cooperation is already possible - for example, in increasing trade turnover," the ministry added.
The security situation has long prevented a solution to the issue of opening a Russian embassy in Libya's Tripoli. Both sides have previously expressed an interest in the move, and the current meeting in Moscow will be a good chance to discuss all the details.
Russia supports the current processes in Libya aimed at establishing a central authority, which is still provisional. As Lavrov has noted previously, Moscow hopes that parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in Libya at the end of December this year, as agreed. For this, the Libyans will have "to cope with the difficult task of approving the legislative base". In addition, Moscow is already taking an active position in the Libyan peace process and maintains close and trusting contacts with various political forces in the country, urging them to end their hostilities.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS