Borg in first meeting with Libyan president

The president of the Libyan Congress will be attending the Mediterranean nations' 5 5 talks which will take place in October 2012.

Dr Mohammed Al Magariaf is the first president of the Libyan General Congress, the first democratically-elected institution following the Libyan conflict.

"Several issues were discussed between Malta and Libya amongst them economic development," a foreign ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday of the visit by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg across several states in the Maghreb.

"The Libyan president thanked the Maltese government for its support during the Libyan revolution."

The Maltese consulate in Tripoli is issuing around 130 visas every day for visitors to Malta. By September, the Libyan congress will be expected to appoint a new government.

Borg is the first European minister to meet with the Libyan president.

Libya's national assembly picked former opposition leader Mohammed Magarief as its president as the North African country's newly elected congress began its rule.

Magarief, seen as a moderate Islamist, will head the 200-member congress, which will name a prime minister, pass laws and steer Libya to full parliamentary elections after a new constitution is drafted next year.

Magarief, leader of the National Front party, is effectively acting head of state. An economist and former Libyan ambassador to India who had lived in exile since the 1980s, Magarief was a leading figure in Libya's oldest opposition movement - the National Front for the Salvation of Libya - which made several attempts to end Muammar Gaddafi's rule.

The 72-year-old's National Front Party is an offshoot of the old opposition movement and won three seats in the July 7 poll - Libya's first free vote in a generation.