Libya's Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush will pay an official visit to Turkey on Thursday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry has confirmed.
She will attend several meetings with Turkish officials and discuss bilateral relations and current developments in Libya, the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
During the Libyan conflict, Turkey backed the country's internationally recognized Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which was fighting the eastern-based forces of putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar, supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France.
Libya has recently witnessed positive developments following a breakthrough on Feb. 5 when rival parties agreed on a unified new executive authority to govern in the lead-up to Dec. 24 national elections. Libyans hope the new authority will end years of civil war that engulfed the country since the ouster and eventual killing of strongman Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
On Nov. 27, 2019, the internationally recognized Libyan government signed two key deals, one on security cooperation and the other on the demarcation of the maritime border with Turkey.
The Turkey-Libya maritime delimitation deal provided a legal framework to prevent any fait accompli by regional states. Accordingly, it averted Greek attempts to appropriate huge parts of Libya's continental shelf since a political crisis hit the North African country in 2011.
The agreement also confirmed that Turkey and Libya are maritime neighbors. The delimitation starts from Turkey’s southwestern coast of Fethiye-Marmaris-Kaş and extends to the Derna-Tobruk-Bordia coastline of Libya.
As part of the security agreement, Turkey started providing military training to Libyan troops.
Earlier this year, the two countries reiterated their commitment to enhancing bilateral ties and the maritime deal, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan emphasized that Ankara prioritizes Libya's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political unity.
Turkey and Libya also agreed to further their cooperation in multiple areas over a series of meetings, including in the fields of oil and natural gas. Tripoli declared that economic deals with Turkey should remain in place.