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By Michel Cousins.
Tripoli, 6 January 2013:
The Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Rasim Ljajic, who arrived in Tripoli yesterday, Saturday, had talks . . .[restrict]today with the President of the General National Congress, Mohamed Magarief, as well as with Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and the acting foreign minister Mohamed Abdelaziz.
It was the first Serbian ministerial visit to Libya since the revolution although there have been a number of other official Serbian visits. At the beginning of December 2011, just days after the appointment of the Al-Kib government a Serbian presidential envoy was in Tripoli for discussions with Kib and the then head of the Transitional National Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil.
In this visit Liajic, who is also his country’s Minister of Foreign and Domestic Trade and Telecommunications, also met with the Minister of Economy, Mustafa Mohammed Abufunas.
Discussions focussed on political and economic relations, in particular the issue of deals during the Qaddafi era. It was agreed that a joint commission should meet by the end of the year to see what needs to be reviewed or and what would have to be changed.
Although this is his first visit since the revolution, Ljajic, a Bosniak Muslim from Serbia’s Muslim-majority Sanjak region, has been to Libya twice previously. He is expected back again in April. Abufunas invited him to the Tripoli International Fair at which a number of Serbian companies are to due to exhibit.
There are estimated to be some 500 Serbs living and working in Libya at present. Most are in the east of the country, working in the oil sector. In and around Tripoli, the majority are in healthcare. There are believed to be around 150 Serbian nurses and technicians in the capital. [/restrict]
