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By Gabriel Harrison.
Tunis, 30 August 2017:
Libya will not be able to overcome the challenges it currently faces unless it revives the economy and stimulates job creation said Presidency Council (PC) deputy Ahmed Maetig. He was speaking in Berlin yesterday to the German-Libyan Economic Forum.
He emphasised the importance of developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the private sector and the need to reactivate infrastructure projects. These, he said, were crucial to rebuilding a functioning Libyan state.
Maetig praised PC efforts to raise Libyan oil production to over a million barrels a day as well as last year’s liberation of Sirte from the so-called Islamic State by the Misratan-led Bunyan Marsous operation.
Declaring that the forum marked the beginning of a new partnership with Germany, establishing the foundations for economic relations for decades to come, Maetig also thanked the Germans for their role in supporting the recovery of Libyan institutions, particularly in the areas of healthcare, water and electricity.
Among those attending the forum from Libya were the PC’s minister for economy and industry, Naser Fadelallah Aoun, representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs and health, the director of the department of international cooperation for the education ministry, the CEO of state electricity company GECOL, the director of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the head of the Civil Aviation Authority.
On the German side were representatives from a number of private and public companies as well government officials.
