By Michel Cousins.
Tripoli, 17 June 2013:
The Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan, has arrived in the UK to attend G8 Summit at Lough . . .[restrict]Erne in Northern Ireland which started today. He is currently in London but will fly to Belfast tomorrow morning for the final day of the summit when Libya will be on the agenda.
Each year, in addition to the eight members of the group – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA – a number of other governments which are involved in issues being debated are invited. This is the first time Libya has been invited to attend as a guest participant. It was invited by the British government, this year’s summit host, and is the only Arab state attending. There are just four others, mainly African because food security and nutrition, particularly in Africa, are also on the agenda.
Syria, however, is expectedly to top the summit agenda this year.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said that the invitation from British Premier David Cameron reinforced Libya’s position in the world and showed Libya opening up. Ali Zeidan, it explained, would brief the summit during the Libya session about its expectations, the situation in the country, the efforts of the government to set up a state of law and institutions, and moves taken to establish security. He would also point out that Libya needs help from its friends in supporting its transformation to democracy. Zeidan would, the statement said, “express the country’s gratitude to those states that are giving helping Libya get past the present difficult stage in its history”. [/restrict]
