On Tuesday, June 8, the Italian-Libyan Association for Trade Development ILBDA made important agreements with various mayors of municipalities (wali) and local authorities in the three regions of Libya to send trade delegations to various Libyan cities that meet the needs of the municipalities that they expressed during their participation. In the activities of the first Italian-Libyan-Tunisian Economic Forum, which was held in Tunisia on 7 and 8 June .
Sandro Frattini, President of the ILBDA Association, expressed his fascination with the success of the forum’s work, which was manifested in the intense presence of companies and exhibitors from the three countries, in addition to about two-thirds of the mayors of Libyan municipalities, expressing his thanks to all the sponsors and participants who contributed to the successful organization of the forum.
The forum witnessed the participation of 30 businessmen between sponsors and endorsers, 28 exhibitors, in addition to 120 companies, including about 80 new members, and 11 mayors of the municipality joined the membership of the Italian-Libyan Association for Trade Development.
Partnerships thanks to the forum
Sandro Frattini reported that the event was very positive for establishing contacts and strengthening relations between Tunisia, Libya and Italy, where important projects that will embody cooperation between the public and private sectors were discussed.
He added, “The next few hours and days will be crucial to give substance to the forum, there are partnerships born thanks to ILBDA and that makes us very proud.”
He continued, “The forum was also an opportunity for the authorities to announce important events, most notably the reopening of the ICE agency in the coming days at the Italian Embassy in Tripoli, according to what Dr. Donatella Iarici announced.”
From Tunisia to Tripoli
For his part, Ashraf Al-Thalthi, Vice President of ILBDA, announced that the next session of the forum will be held in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, soon, with confirmation of participation in organizing two days dedicated to Italy at the Misurata International Fair in October 2021, confirming the opening of a representative office for ILBDA in Benghazi (Northeast Libya) immediately.
Thulthi said the members of the association are very happy that this forum helped bring Libyans together and contributed to the national reconciliation process that has already taken place.
He continued, “It was good to see authorities and personalities from all over Libya and the various social components on the platform together, which confirms that the war is over and that the Libyans are united and cohesive in achieving the goals they set for themselves.”
Important initiatives
Thulthi launched the initiative to establish an Italian radio in the Arabic language, directed to North Africa, and at a later stage the project will develop into a television channel.
He also announced the completion of the full conception and preparation of a joint study for the project to link a gas pipeline between Libya and the Tunisian border, which will raise the capacity to export electricity from Tunisia from 100 megawatts to 300 megawatts per day.
success despite difficulties
The ILBDA Association confirmed in a statement that “the establishment of this forum was not easy for many reasons, most notably the Corona pandemic in the first place and the short preparation period, moreover, bringing together and coordinating 3 countries represented a great challenge, which made them set the goal of improvement and work better for Implement the next steps.
“We are convinced that the partnership between Libya, Italy and Tunisia will continue and we bet that the Italian presence will be greater, and now it seems that our country has emerged from the serious health crisis that has crippled the entire country for more than a year,” the statement said.
