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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 8 January 2020:
UNSMIL reported yesterday that it had convened on Monday a meeting of 19 Libyan economic experts representing the main Libyan financial and economic institutions as well as the different economic sectors.
It reported that the participating experts were selected based on their capacity to represent interests from across the Libyan political and geographic spectrum.
The Libyan experts agreed that the Libyan economy was under duress due to the institutional fragmentation caused by the conflict and that this was having an increasingly detrimental impact on the daily lives of Libyans. It was also agreed that any comprehensive political settlement would require a mechanism to unify financial and economic policy as well as the institutions, UNSMIL reported.
UNSMIL reported that the participants discussed a proposal to establish a Libyan Expert Economic Commission (LEEC). This proposal was initially developed in preparation for the National Dialogue and has now been introduced in the Berlin process. Participants provided input on the prospective Terms of Reference of the LEEC including ideas on its purpose, mandate and structure, UNSMIL added.
UNSMIL then explained that it regarded the planned ‘‘Berlin process’’ as the second step in its ‘‘three-step initiative’’ to bring an end to the conflict laid out by SRSG Ghassan Salame in his 29 July, 2019 briefing to the Security Council.
The ‘‘third step’’ is a Libyan-led process to reach a comprehensive settlement that addresses the underlying drivers to the Libyan crisis. This meeting in Tunis is part of the economic basket, complemented by a military track and a political track. UNSMIL is working to activate all three of these Libyan-led tracks this month, UNSMIL explained.
Representatives from the international community were invited to portions of Monday’s meeting to lend their support, UNSMIL said.
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