The Italian Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, Stefania Bucharelli, announced that a frigate of the Italian Navy intervened on Monday to rescue seven Italian fishing boats after they were threatened by a high-speed rubber boat coming from the eastern coast of Libya.

Aki news agency quoted Boucharelli as saying that the Italian boats which were carrying out fishing activities in international waters are safe and are heading towards the central Mediterranean.

"As I have had the opportunity to speak in recent days, we can no longer allow Italian fishing boats, which operate legally in international waters, to be threatened or seized by the Libyan authorities, as happened on September 1, 2020," the Italian official added in a press statement, referring to the incident of Sicilian sailors, who were released after Haftar's militia detained them in a prison in Benghazi for more than three months.

"Thanks to the visit of Prime Minister Mario Draghi to Tripoli, which promoted dialogue with the newly elected executive authorities in Libya, I believe that the conditions for working on a possible agreement with Libya are available today to define the perimeter of international waters off the coast of Cyrenaica," Boucharelli added.

He reiterated support for the Italian foreign ministry's call for a technical meeting to define the agreement to be proposed to Libya.