Speaker of Egypt's parliament (centre) during a press conference in Cairo on Thursday with Aqila Saleh (left), speaker of Libya's House of Representatives, and Khaled El-Meshry, head of Libya's Higher Council of State.
El-Gebaly's remarks came on Thursday on the sidelines of a press conference in Cairo with Aguila Saleh, speaker of Libya's House of Representatives, and Khaled Al-Mishri, head of Libya's Higher Council of State.
El-Gebaly stressed that Egypt would give all necessary support to reinforce the sovereignty and political stability of Libya as this is key to preserving Egypt's national security.
"Egypt has hosted the meetings of the UN-sponsored Libyan Constitutional Track Committee for one year and half, at the end of which speaker of Libya's House of Representatives Aguila Saleh and Head of Libya's Higher Council of State Khaled Al-Mishri were able to reach a consensus over the constitutional foundation upon which the process of rebuilding Libyan institutions will kick off," said El-Gebaly.
He also stressed that "Egypt is proud of its brotherly relations with Libya and has always been keen to support all efforts aimed at reaching a political settlement for the current crisis which is gripping Libya."
For his part, Libya's speaker Saleh said "Egypt has always sided with the interests of Libya and Libyans in order to be able to solve their crises, put an end to foreign intervention into their country's internal affairs, and help the Libyan state restore sovereignty.
"The brotherly neighbouring state of Egypt has always encouraged Libyans to close ranks and exchange views, not to mention that it has hosted and sponsored on its eternal land the different meetings and talks among Libyans to enable them to reach a consensus and find final solutions to their internal political divisions which have negatively impacted the lives of Libyan citizens," said Saleh.
Al-Mishri highly praised Egypt's role in hosting the meetings of Libyan joint committees formed to reach a consensus over constitutional arrangements paving the way for the long-awaited elections.
"After we have reached a consensus over the constitutional arrangements, we will declare a new roadmap for the elections," said Al-Mishri, adding that "thanks to Egyptian efforts, we were able to surmount many of the obstacles and difficulties and make it much easier for committees to hold several rounds of talks and finalise a clear-cut constitutional document that can pave the way for drafting election laws."
According to Al-Mishri, "under Egypt's sponsorship, all Libyan committees were able to both reach consensus over many of the points of the constitutional document, with the exception of one or two points, and agree that election laws would be jointly drafted by both Libya's House of Representatives and Higher Council of State."
"In case they disagreed, the election laws would be put up for vote in a public referendum to heed the opinion of the Libyan people which is the source of all authorities and which has the final say on all points of disagreement," said Al-Meshri, adding that "we have reached an advanced stage and were able to settle a lot of disputes and finally put the car on the road towards electing first a new legislative authority and then a new president and ensuring that both elections are held on firm constitutional basis."
Following a press conference held in the headquarters of Egypt's House of Representatives in Cairo on Thursday, the speaker of Libya's House of Representatives and Head of Libya's Higher Council of State issued a public statement on the constitutional document relevant to a political settlement in Libya.
The statement said that "the document will be referred to both Libya's House of Representatives and Higher Council of State to be endorsed."
"The House and the Higher Council will also draw up a roadmap for concluding all the arrangements necessary for completing the election process and all its related laws, executive regulations and measures necessary for uniting institutions in the country," the statement said.
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