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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 21 December 2013:
Economy Minister Mustafa Abufunas attacked Ibrahim Jadhran, the self-styled head of the Political . . .[restrict]Bureau of Cyrenaica today at the opening of the “First Scientific Conference for Non-oil Exports – The Role of Non-oil Exports in the Diversification of Libya’s Economy – Investment, Exports and Development” this morning at the Rixos hotel in Tripoli.
The conference, organised by the Libyan Export Promotion Centre (www.lepc.org.ly) and sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, will present 21 papers over the two days on subjects including: regional development, infrastructure, marine welfare, commercial attaches, Islamic insurance, Islamic trade, packaging, the south of Libya, the Korean experience, dates exports, leather products, WTO, FDI, the Jordanian experience, bank finance, and industrial zones.
In his opening remarks, Economy Minister Abufunas said that the conference came at a time when “illegal armed groups hold Libya’s only source of income to ransom sponsored by supporters of the former regime in an attempt to abort the February 17th Revolution and show that it is a failure.
This attempt includes the destruction and vandalism of power stations and electricity facilities as well as the premeditated petrol crises”.
The Economy Minister also attacked the “campaign by media channels owned by supporters of the former regime”. Abufunas, as per government practice, did not specifically refer to Ibrahim Jadhran nor his Political Bureau of Cyrenaica by name, nor did he name any of the TV channels, but insisted that they were known to all.
Turning to economic matters, Abufunas said that “the current crises sounded the danger alarms and highlighted the danger of the dependence on one source of income. It stresses the need for the diversification of Libya’s income”, the Economy Minister added.
Libya has great potential the Minister explained across a variety of sectors including solar energy, transit trade, marine welfare and dates exports. The Minister explained that committees had been set up to look into developing further the potential of dates and fish production for local and export consumption.
With regards to transit trade Abufunas said that this needs Libya to build its infrastructure: its roads, ports, airports, which would in turn help local and international trade. He admitted that Libya is listed by international surveys as one of the least developed nations in comparison to its Arab and African neighbours.
The Economy Minister also confirmed that Libya will be participating in “Expo 2015” to be held in Milan adding that the new Libya “will be participating in its new guise”.
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