By Michel Cousins.
Tripoli, 4 March 2014:
Plans are in motion to set up an organisation as . . .[restrict]the voice of the Libya private sector. The creation of a Libyan Confederation of Trade, Industry and Services was agreed by a number of trade and business organisations at a meeting yesterday at the offices of the Libyan Industrial Union in Tripoli.
Those backing the move are the Libyan Contractors’ Union, the Libyan Union of Construction Contractors, the Libyan Businessmen Council, the Libyan Council for Businessmen (Misrata), the National Trade Union, the Libyan Employers’ Association, the Libyan Union of SME Leaders and the Libyan Industrial Union.
“Many attending the meeting felt they were not strong enough when dealing with the government or acting internationally,” said Abdulnassar Alnajah, president of the Libyan Employers’ Association. He has been appointed to head a committee which includes a representative from each of the various founding organisations and which is to draft proposals on the confederation’s structure and remit within the next four weeks.
“It will play a major role as a social partner with the government,” he told the Libya Herald. It aims, too, to be a full partner of the International Organisation of Employers and other relevant international and regional bodies.
Such a body was supported by the government which wanted a single voice to deal in regards to ideas and action, he said. It would, he added, also have a role in Libyan PPPs.
The Libyan private sector, particularly the retail sector, has been expanding massively over the past couple of years despite the increasing paralysis of the government one – some even say because of it. [/restrict]
