Italy reportedly preparing new international Conference on Libya on June 22

Italy will organize an international Conference on Libya on June 22 as Rome is championing a new deal on the oil-rich African country, Italy news agency Nova reports citing diplomatic sources.

The conference, defined as technical table, will include the three Western permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, namely France, the U.K. and the U.S., plus Germany, Turkey and Egypt.

The date of June 22 marks the end of the road map of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), which gave authorized mandate to the government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

The meeting is scheduled to take place in a neutral Arab country, the sources told the agency.

“The stabilization of Libya is a matter of national interest for Italy,” Nova quoted the sources as saying.

“We are trying to organize a meeting to bring Egypt and Turkey to an agreement.”

“Italy’s relations with Turkey are better now than they were two months ago. The real challenge now is the relationship between Ankara and Cairo,” the diplomatic sources said, adding that “the minimum objective is to help lower the tension through the involvement of Egypt and Turkey before the deadline of June 22.”
Libya currently has two rival governments. The GNU PM Dbeibeh was ousted in February by the house of Representatives (HoR) which hand-picked former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha as PM.

Dbeibeh, who came to power as result of LPDF in March last year, has refused to relinquish power and denied Bashagha entry to Tripoli.