Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ataf, together with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, reviewed the situation in Libya in the first direct meeting between the two sides since the formation of a new government in Ankara.

On the sidelines of his participation in the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Attaf met on Thursday with his Turkish counterpart, where the two sides praised the "distinguished and unprecedented" level achieved by economic cooperation relations and political dialogue between the two countries, according to a statement by the Algerian Foreign Ministry.

The meeting between representatives of Algerian and Turkish diplomacy was the first of its kind since Fidan was appointed last June as foreign minister in the new government. He comed from the Turkish intelligence service, where he held the leadership position 13 years ago.

Addressing the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, Ataf stressed his country's efforts to support the political track under the auspices of the United Nations in Libya "in preparation for the organization of free and fair elections that respond to the aspirations of the Libyan people to build a single unified modern democratic state."