Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry said that he discussed the situation in Libya during his talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. They also discussed Cairo’s efforts to push for elections in the country.
Shoukry added that they stressed the “necessity of establishing a government that represents the interests of the Libyan people, and ends the presence of foreign forces and militias while preserving the legal frameworks.”
In his speech at a joint conference with Lavrov in Moscow, Shoukry also touched on the issue of supporting the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee (JMC), in order to “unify the military establishment, and not slip into confrontations.”
The FM said: “We discussed the situation in Libya, and Egypt’s efforts to find an intra-Libyan solution.”
In turn, Lavrov noted that “we stressed the continuation and close work with Egypt during our talks, to resolve the crisis in Libya. We support Egypt’s efforts to embrace intra-Libyan dialogue to reach the constitutional basis for holding elections.”
Notably, Egyptian President, Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev held talks on Saturday.
El-Sisi outlined Egypt’s vision for a settlement in Libya, and Cairo’s efforts in this regard to support the political, economic, and constitutional tracks.
Earlier this month, Libyan Parliament Speaker, Ageela Saleh, and the Head of the High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri met in Cairo. They issued a joint statement, claiming to 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 United Nations 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.”
Cairo welcomed the agreement, describing it as “an important step in moving towards holding Presidential and Parliamentary elections simultaneously in Libya as soon as possible.”
