Malta to reopen embassy in Libya soon, deputy PM says

Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carmelo Abela, said that the Embassy of Malta to Libya will soon return to the capital Tripoli and that a new Maltese Ambassador to Libya will be appointed.

Abela made his remarks during a meeting with the Libyan UN-backed prime minister in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

According to the media office of the Libyan Prime Minister, the meeting discussed mutual relations between the two countries, where Abela stressed Malta’s full support for Serraj’s government and his efforts to achieve national reconciliation and consensus in Libya.

“We informed the Government of National Accord that the (Maltese) government will appoint a new ambassador to Tripoli soon, and that arrangements are continuing on reopening of the embassy in the capital in the near future,” Abela said in a press conference following the meeting, adding that the meeting also discussed possibility of resuming flights between the two countries.

“The Maltese government supports the political agreement, the roadmap proposed by the UN envoy, and the political solution to the crisis in Libya,” Abela said.

Serraj expressed hope to develop communication between the two countries against smuggling, as well as political and economic cooperation.

Most foreign embassies and missions to Libya have left the country in 2014 due to violent clashes that broke out in Tripoli between rival armed groups, which created the current political division in the country.

Libyan Foreign Minister, Mohamed Sayala, told Xinhua that 30 foreign embassies have returned to Libya so far after more than three years of closure.

(Source: Xinhua)