Libya’s memorandum of understanding with Malta to sell the country oil and gas at preferential rates will be adhered to once the situation in the former improved, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz said this evening.

He was addressing a joint news conference with Malta’s Foreign Minister George Vella, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding covering a number of fields including education, training, health, energy and culture.

Asked whether, given the situation in the country, Libya could deliver on the oil and gas memorandum signed with Malta in September, Mr Aziz acknowledged there were serious problems in Libya at the moment and billions of dollars were being lost in oil exports as some of the ports were controlled “by certain elements”.

However, he insisted that the memorandum would be adhered to once the impasse was solved.

He noted there was a perception that Libya was a failed state but insisted that it was only natural in a post revolution period to face such turbulence. It would take many years to build democratic institutions and the cultural mindset of people also had to change, he said.

Speaking on security in the country, Mr Aziz said this was the Libyan government’s responsibility but Libya could not do it alone. Controlling Libya’s borders was a collective responsibility of all those who stood by Libya during the revolution, he said.

Dr Vella said that Malta was committed to see democracy take root in Libya.

Malta hoped there would be a gradual but strong democratic transition. However, he cautioned that one could not expect miracles.

The signing of the memorandum this evening followed two days of intensive meetings of the first meeting of the Malta Libya Joint Commission since the revolution.

In all, the commission has met 27 times.