Tripoli, March 17: Nancy Pelosi, Democrat leader in the US House of Representatives, met NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Prime Minister Abdurrahim Al-Kib and other members of the council and government on Saturday.
Her visit was part of a tour by a US Congress delegation to Libya, Egyptand Tunisia.
“God has blessed Libya with the courage of her people, with the natural resources to have a wealth to educate those people and make a good life for them,” she told reports afterwards.
“Of special interest to us is the role that women and young people have played, are playing, and hopefully will play in the brilliant new democracy in Libya,” she said.
“Many of them were part of the fight for freedom and democracy. They must also be part of forming that democracy,” she said after meeting with civil society advocates, including women and students.
Libya, she said, should invest heavily in education.
Speaking of the upcoming Constituent Assembly elections, she called on women to stand as candidates. “You can’t win unless you run,” she said, adding that she hoped that women would win “more than 20 percent” of seats.
“It is not for the faint of heart and I encourage women, young women to support each other.” [/restrict]
