Libya Welcomes President Putin

Libya Welcomes President Putin Website
Tripoli- A big welcome reception was granted to the Russian President Vladimir Putin by the Libyan people and the Leader of the Revolution Muammar Al-Qathafi upon his arrival in Tripoli on Wednesday evening. The Russian President's first official visit to Libya, termed "historical" by the Libyan and international media, started by the reviewing of the guard of honor. Then President Putin, accompanied by the Leader toured the Leader's house which was damaged during the American aggression in April 1986. After touring the destroyed house, President Putin wrote in the visitors' book: "In the anniversary of the martyred victims we are saddened along with you. Accept our condolences." The reception held for the Russian president was attended by top Libyan officials including the Secretaries of the GPC, Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation, the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation as well as the Secretary of the Railways Projects and a number of officers from the people's army along with foreign diplomats. Speaking at a dinner banquet in the honor of President Putin, the Leader of the Revolution said: "I would like to welcome our dear and great guest Vladimier Putin the president of the Russian Federation." "We thank you very much for accepting the invitation and carrying out this visit in this right time," Al-Qathafi added. "This visit is the first visit of a Russian president ever to Libya. It is considered very important historic and strategic visit. We understand that despite the changes that will happen in the near future at the level of Russian leadership, we know that you, friend, will continue in leading the Russian federation, that your party enjoys the great majority in the Domma and this assures us that our cooperation and struggle together will continue," Al-Qathafi added. Commenting on the current state of world politics, the Leader said "it is being said that the Cold War has ended. But I would say that, regrettably, the cold war is continuing and the arms race has started anew. The reason is that the imbalance in the world has encouraged such behavior. The unipolar policy has led to great risks to world peace as in the case of Balkans as well as in Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan. All this necessitates the reestablishing of the balance of power as to protect world peace," the Leader maintained. "This meeting should lead to establishing bilateral relations between Libya and Russia in a new era that is different from the relations between Libya and the Soviet Union and in a world that is different from the one that existed at that time." This visit will reestablish the bilateral cooperation between us, especially we the gas and oil producing countries, and we support the idea that calls for the creation of an organization of the gas producing countries similar to OPEC, the Leader stressed. However, the Leader insisted that oil and gas producing countries should take into consideration the needs and difficulties faced by those poor oil consuming countries. He said "the oil producing countries should undertake measures to help poor countries in the facing of rising oil prices, especially in Africa." On his part, President Putin said in his speech during the dinner banquet "we are happy to find a friendly country as member in the Security Council to work with to solve problems and introduce reform to the United Nations." "I seize this opportunity to renew my invitation to Mr. Al-Qathafi to visit Moscow," Putin stressed. Al-Qathfi said we uphold highly what Moscow has done in terms of serving the world peace since it abandoned the policies of the Soviet Union. But, unfortunately it was not treated respectfully by other powers that ignored it in their attempt to remaking of the world. Al-Qathafi criticized the current world affairs saying that "the policy of threatening the other's independence needs a deterrent" "The intervention in Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia has lead to the spread of terrorism at a large scale." Therefore, Al-Qathafi added, "the unity of the Russian Federation and Yugoslavia should have been respected as well as the independence of Iraq and Afghanistan." Commenting on the East-West relations and the conflict that has been emerging as a result of NATO's attempts to acquire more territories of influence at the expense of Russia, the Leaders said "when NATO feels that it is the most powerful in the world, it will not hesitate to follow the steps of Napoleon and Hitler who wanted to annex Moscow to Berlin." It is for these very reasons that the world needs some sort of a balance of power that help preserve world stability and peace. "We strongly admire your activity and effectiveness in international politics, we admire your leadership of the Russian Federation and your saving of Russia to become again a great power in the world," the Leader told the Russian President at the end of his speech.