Tripoli, 27 November 2013:
The flagship of British navy, HMS Bulwark, arrived in Tripoli harbour yesterday afternoon. The amphibious assault ship is . . .[restrict]en route to the UK on its way back from leading a major multi-national exercise in the Indian Ocean.
The UK’s Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Francois, and the Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant-General David Capewell, also arrived in Tripoli yesterday for meetings with Libyan officials and representatives of British businesses working in Libya.
“I’m delighted to be in Tripoli today to further strengthen the ties between the UK armed forces and the Libyan armed forces”, Francois said last night at a dinner on board the ship attended by the Libyan Deputy Minister of Defence, the leader of Tripoli Local Council, and the chiefs of the Libyan Air Force, Air Defence Force, Navy, Army and Border Guards.
“The UK is fully committed to supporting our Libyan partners as they continue their efforts to provide security to the Libyan people,” he stated.
The British Ambassador, Michael Aron, said that the ship’s visit demonstrated the UK’s ongoing commitment to the people of Libya and friendship with them. “Today we had useful presentations from our expert defence advisors working with the Libyan authorities about the support the UK is providing to the Libyan armed forces to help them protect Libya’s borders and improve security for all Libyans,” he said. [/restrict]
