Israeli, Libyan FMs hold historic meeting

JERUSALEM: The Foreign Ministers of Israel and Libya have met in Rome, marking the first-ever meet-ing between officials of the two countries that don't have formal diplomatic ties, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The meeting between Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Libyan counterpart Najla El Mangoush was held last week and facilitated by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the statement added on Sunday. The meeting was aimed at “examining possibilities for cooperation and relations between the countries and the preser-vation of the heritage of the Libyan-Jewish community,” it said.

At the meeting, the ministers discussed “the historical ties between the nations, the heritage of the Jewish-Libyan community, and the possibility of cooperation between the countries and Israeli aid in humanitarian issues, agricul-ture, water management and more,” according to the statement.

The Israeli top diplomat said that Israel attaches “great importance” to the establishment of official ties with Libya, the fourth largest country in Africa. He added that Israel is working “to expand the circle of peace and normalization” with Muslim countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Xinhua news agency reported. In 2020, Israel normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the first Gulf countries that agreed to establish of-ficial relations with Israel. IANS

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