Libyan rebel chief heads to Italy

The head of Libya’s rebel cabinet is heading to Italy for a meeting with Premier Silvio Berlusconi on a European diplomatic tour aimed at securing the release of billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets.

Mahmoud Jibril will meet Berlusconi today in Milan, a day after laying out plans for governing Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year autocratic regime.

Italy is Libya’s largest economic partner, with trade worth €11bn in 2010, before civil war halted trade in February.

Italian firm Eni has dispatched technicians to Benghazi to prepare to restart oil and natural gas production. It said it could take up to a year for oil production to begin.