Gaddafi hold talks with D'Alema, vows to fight terrorism
In a joint Italian-Libyan statement issued following the talks held between Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema during a Thursday visit by D'Alema to Tripoli which lasted for several hours, the two sides pledged not to ensure any backing or support to "those who are responsible for terrorist acts."
It also called for more international cooperation to exterminate terrorism.
The statement said the two sides asserted the need to deprive those who are responsible for committing terrorist acts from any aid or protection, hoping that further cooperation measures will be taken to prevent such works and contain them. The two countries, also stressed in their statement the need to honor international agreements in the area of fighting terrorism.
Before the release of the statement, Gaddafi said he hopes he will be able to visit Italy, adding, "There are certain problems that should be eliminated first."
Replying to a question on Tripoli's relations with of Britain and the US, Gaddafi said there are "no problems with London, as for the US, this matter is up to it."
D'Alema, for his part, said that his very short visit to Libya represents "a new phase" in the relations between Tripoli and the West.
Upon his arrival earlier in the day in Tripoli, D'Alema said his visit aims at developing relations between the two countries who positively cooperated in the political and economic fields.
Meanwhile, Italy has returned back to Libya a historic sculpture of Venus, in a celebration held in Tripoli in the presence of D'Alema.
This artistic treasure was in Term De Liptis Mania in 1940 and was taken by the governor of Libya, Italo Balbo, who gave it as a present to Hitler aide Marshal Hermann Goering.
Following complex negotiations, the Italian Foreign Ministry won license to take the sculpture to Italy in order to restore it to Libya after it had been kept in the warehouses of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
D'Alema, who is the first Western premier to visit Libya since 1992, said that by returning the sculpture, his country intends to express its desire to strengthen dialogue among the civilizations in the Mediterranean basin.