Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure to welcome you today to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a year and a half after your first visit to Athens and a few months after my visit to Al Qubbah in Libya.
The Chairman of the Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kostas Gkioulekas, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Special Envoy for Libya, Ambassador Mr. Lazaris, are here with me today.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to warmly thank you for the position you are maintaining which paves the way for the holding of fair and free elections in Libya and, above all, for your firm stance in favor of the withdrawal of all foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya.
What is needed, and you, Mr. Speaker, represent it in the clearest terms, is to allow the Libyan people to express their sovereign will in the elections. And for that to happen, all foreign troops and mercenaries must leave Libya. Greece will do everything it can to assist in this direction.
I warmly thank you for your visit here and for the exchange of views that we will have.