Libyan prime minister arrives in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials

ISTANBUL

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh on Wednesday arrived in Cairo to meet top Egyptian officials.

According to a statement by the Egyptian Prime Ministry, Dbeibeh is accompanied by a high-level delegation including technical teams from most of Libyan ministries.

Dbeibeh will attend the 11th meeting of the Egyptian-Libyan Joint Higher Committee, which focuses on strengthening cooperation and trade between the two countries, it also said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and his visiting Libyan counterpart will hold a meeting on Thursday with the attendance of officials from both sides, which will be followed by the signing of agreements in various fields, the statement noted.

On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with Aguila Saleh, speaker of the Tobruk-based Libyan House of Representatives, and Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar. They affirmed the importance of conducting the Libyan elections on Dec. 24 as it is scheduled, according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidency.

There were no comments from the Egyptian authorities whether Saleh and Haftar are still in Egypt to hold a meeting with Dbeibeh.

In recent months, relations between Tripoli and Cairo improved following the visit of Madbouly to Tripoli in April, where Egypt expressed support for the new national unity government in Libya.

In February, Libya's rival political groups agreed to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections in December.

A popular revolution ousted Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Ever since, the country fell into political deadlock and was engulfed by a civil war, with Haftar seeking to seize power and overthrow the internationally recognized government.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar