Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili urged for the expansion of cultural exchange between Iran and Libya. This was during a meeting with his Libyan counterpart, Mabrouka Toghi Othman on Saturday.
The meeting was held concurrently with the event designating Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, as the Islamic World’s 2023 Cultural Capital.
Esmaeili referred to the meeting as “the start of a new chapter in creative and cultural connections between Iran and Libya, specifically in the fields of cinema, poetry, literature, and visual arts.” He also mentioned the cultural and artistic capacities between Iran and Libya.
Othman emphasised the importance of conducting calligraphy exhibitions in Libya, and said that such cultural initiatives “increase awareness of the aesthetic and cultural diversity of Iranian artists among people in North Africa.”
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammer Gaddafi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, who is leading the transitional government, to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
Libyan Parliament Speaker Ageela Saleh and the HCS Head, Khaled Al-Mishri, met in Cairo on Thursday. The two officials said in a joint statement, that they have agreed to set “a clear and specific” roadmap for elections. They also agreed to create a joint committee to refer the constitutional document to the two chambers for approval.
Al-Mishri said that the new roadmap and the constitutional base that will govern the elections will be announced soon, following a meeting with Saleh, and the UN Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily.
He explained that the disagreement on the constitutional basis “prevented them from presenting the roadmap to the Libyan people and in the media. The issue is now being brought up for societal dialogue, through seminars and press and media conferences.”
The roadmap aims “to organise elections and unify state institutions,” according to a joint statement issued by the two chambers.
The two sides affirmed their “keenness to achieve a consensual constitutional basis, to reach the Presidential and Parliamentary elections.”