Malta is confident it can build strong business links with the Libya’s National Transitional Council, the rebel movement which yesterday continued to battle for the complete control of Tripoli as Muammar Gaddafi fled into hiding.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told The Times Business: “We have had numerous meetings with representatives of the Libyan National Transitional Council over economic and business links and they are very keen to kickstart business links between the two countries”.
“The TNC is very grateful to Malta for the role it played in this conflict. It is very important for us to rebuild our commercial relationship with Libya. Furthermore, the TNC has told us that it will honour all Libyan government debt owed to Malta.”
Mr Fenech said the government had planned a commercial visit to Benghazi long before Tripoli fell to the rebel movement. “Whether we will go ahead with a trip to Benghazi or plan one to Tripoli now that the Gaddafi regime has been overthrown remains to be seen,” he said.
Mr Fenech said the Libyan frozen assets in Malta will be returned in due course to the new Libyan government. The assets are worth millions of euros and were frozen under both UN and EU sanctions. The frozen assets belonged to Gaddafi and his family as well as the Libyan state.
“We will work with the EU in returning the assets to the new Libyan government,” Mr Fenech said.
Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said that the government is seeking the advice of the Attorney General on how to go about unfreezing the Libyan assets and passing them on to the NTC. He told The Times Business that Malta will be working together with the European Union and United Nations in unfreezing the assets.
Dr Borg also said it was likely that Malta’s liaison office in Benghazi –which was opened recently and where the TNC has been based – would be retained, possibly as a Maltese consulate, even though the Maltese embassy in Tripoli would soon be operational again.
“We want to nurture the good contacts we made in Benghazi,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry is monitoring the situation closely, director-general Kevin Borg told The Times Business.
Mr Borg said Chamber members were “hopeful” that the crisis was nearing its end after enduring the halt to their Libya operations for several months. Members were eager to meet authorities in Tripoli and Benghazi where several Maltese businesses have operations and interests.
The Chamber is in constant contact with the government and was ready to support official initiatives like trade missions to resume commercial relations as soon as possible. Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had planned one such mission to Benghazi a few weeks ago but the trip was postponed until after Ramadan.
Mr Borg said the Chamber was also concerned with connectivity with Libya, and hoped Air Malta would consider operating flights to Benghazi and possibly Djerba, off Tunisia.
A spokesman for Corinthia, which operates the Corinthia Tripoli Hotel and Palm City Residences, a luxury residential village in Janzour, said yesterday: “We are monitoring the situation carefully and will issue a statement on the Malta Stock Exchange at the appropriate moment.”
The spokesman added that the Corinthia Hotel Tripoli remained operational throughout the conflict. He denied certain international media reports that Palm City had been ransacked.
GRTU director Vince Farrugia said Libya has the potential to be the “Dubai of the Mediterranean”.
He added: “There are huge business opportunities in the new Libya and many opportunities for Maltese businesses there. Malta is bursting with entrepreneurs and the size of our market makes it necessary for us to look beyond our shores for business growth. The new Libya presents us with an excellent opportunity to help rebuild the country.
“The GRTU has sent delegations to Benghazi for the past six months and our people have meet TNC chairman Mustafa Abdel-Jalil. We have been instrumental in supplying medicines to Benghazi. I am confident that business relations will flourish between the two countries and the Libyans are grateful to Malta for the way we helped them during this conflict. The Libyan people are intelligent and I believe the new Libyan middle class and intelligentsia will play an important role in the new Libya.”
Mario Debono, GRTU vice president and president of the pharmaceutical section of the GRTU said he met Mr Jalil many times in Benghazi, as well as TNC senior ministers. “Mr Jalil’s attitude towards Malta was very positive,” he said.
Mr Debono was instrumental in getting together Maltese and Libyan businessmen to set up a foundation to help get humanitarian supplies sent over to Libya during the conflict.
“We helped save Misurata with the supplies we sent. Malta did a lot for Libya and it is now important that Libyan frozen assets in Malta are unblocked and sent to the TNC. Libya urgently needs money to buy supplies,” he said.
The Malta Employers’ Association yesterday asked the Prime Minister for an urgent MCESD meeting to discuss the recent developments in Libya. The Association stated that the social partners must work on a strategy to build on the already existing relationship with Libya to the mutual benefit of both countries.
“Malta can be instrumental in the rebuilding process of the newly liberated country and benefit from numerous business opportunities in many areas of economic activity through a coordinated effort between the sectors involved,” the MEA said.