Libya: air service resumes, Italy supports a return to normalcy

 

Libya: air service resumes, Italy supports a return to normalcy

 

ROME, Italy, November 3, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Alitalia’s resumption of service to Libya is a sign of newfound freedom and additional confirmation of a return to normalcy. This was the sentiment expressed by some of the 110 Libyan passengers returning home after a long absence thanks to the first Alitalia Rome-Tripoli flight after an 8-month hiatus imposed by the conflict.

The resumption of flights to Libya is a sign that, along with the elections for the new premier, show that the country has undertaken a road to transition that should lead to a political future of solid democratic and representative institutions”.

Italy, which took part in the NATO-led coalition, carried out its role not least in consideration of a rich history of affinity, friendship and cooperation with the Libyan people. Italy, Minister Franco Frattini said in a message to newly elected Premier of the NTC Abdul Al Raheem Al Qeeb, will continue to support the NTC’s efforts with conviction, and those of all the other Libyan democratic forces aimed at the country’s successful transition and complete recovery.

Those relations of affinity and friendship with the Libyan people also allowed for a rich programme of cooperation initiatives both during the emergency and in the current reconstruction phase. The opening of the Italian Embassy in Tripoli was preceded and accompanied by other significant initiatives: on 22 May a Cooperation office opened in Benghazi, and in May and June the Cooperation participated in an international team whose task was to identify the sectors and priorities on which to structure the international community’s interventions in Libya in the immediate post-conflict phase.

 

SOURCE 

Italy – Ministry of Foreign Affairs