LOC21:45
18:45 GMT
ROME, July 26 (KUNA) -- Italy voiced concern Monday over British
Petroleum's (BP) off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Sirt, Libya, calling for
the involvement of the Union of the Mediterranean to avoid an environmental
disaster like the one in the Gulf of Mexico in the US.
BP's drilling in the Libyan territorial waters "is an issue that clearly
concerns the entire Meditarranean basin," foreign minister Franco Frattini was
quoted by the Italian TV channels from Brussels where he was taking part in a
meeting of the EU's foreign ministers.
He called for involvement of the Union of the Mediterranean in this issue.
Frattini said there should be "guarantees over the use of safe technology."
The BP drilling should not be restricted to an issue of "bilateral
relations," said Frattini because it concerns Libya as well as Malta, Tunisia
and all other countries overlooking the Mediterranean.
BP's past experience in the Gulf of Mexico "makes us worry," he said. (end)
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