LEAD: Italy and Libya to re-activate friendship agreement

Dec 15, 2011, 11:52 GMT

Eds: Releads with Monti and Jalil's announcement; epa photos =

Rome (dpa) - Italy and Libya agreed Thursday to re-activate a friendship pact, with Rome pledging to release all Libyan assets frozen during the uprising against the North African nation's former leader, Moamer Gaddafi.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and the head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustapha Abdel Jalil, made the announcement at a joint news conference in Rome.

Monti said that in his talks with Jalil, the two had 'concentrated on the priorities for the new Libya.'

'Italy has already thawed a sum of 600 million euros (780 million dollars )' in Libyan funds and is 'ready to assure immediate assistance' for implementing security measures at Libya's oil-and-gas plants 'for the benefit of the (Libyan) population,' Monti said.

'Libya has reached 70 per cent of the (oil) production that existed before the March popular uprising that led to Gaddafi's toppling,' Jalil said.

Jalil thanked Italy's state-controlled energy company ENI - one of the largest foreign investors in Libya - for recently resuming its activities which had been suspended during the conflict.

The NTC leader also expressed thanks to Italy's former premier Silvio Berlusconi for its support during the conflict.

Under Berlusconi, Italy was among the first nations to recognize the NTC as Libya's legitimate government - a move that represented a U-turn in Italian foreign policy, which had until then cultivated close ties with Gaddafi.

In 2008, Berlusconi and Gaddafi signed a controversial Italy-Libya friendship agreement, which saw Italy promise 5 billion dollars to compensate the North African country for transgressions during three decades of Italian colonial rule, during the first half of the 20th century.

In exchange, Gaddafi had pledged to assist Italy's conservative government curb illegal immigration across the Mediterranean by accepting the immediate deportation to Libya of migrants intercepted in international waters.

Critics, including the United Nations and the Catholic Church, denounced the deal as a violation of the rights of asylum seekers, since the deportations would take place without first having established whether the people involved were eligible for refugee status.

In March, Italy suspended the friendship agreement and began supporting a NATO mission to impose a UN no-flight zone over the North African country.

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