Malta Enterprise is to re-open its Tripoli office on Monday, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told The Times Business, a few months after it ceased functioning due to the Libyan revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
“Our commercial office will re-open on Monday and will immediately focus on facilitating business links between the two countries. It will concentrate on helping both Maltese business interests in Libya and Libyan interests in Malta,” he said.
Mr Fenech said the government was working hard at resuming daily Air Malta flights to Tripoli as well as twice weekly flights to Benghazi, which would undoubtedly help facilitate commercial links between Malta and Libya.
Air Malta recently re-opened its office in Tripoli and last week the Maltese embassy started functioning once again in the Libyan capital.
Mr Fenech said he will lead a Maltese business delegation to Tripoli as soon as possible, “when the situation there stabilises further and we are given the go-ahead by the Libyan authorities”. He said no decision has been yet taken by the government on the setting up of a Malta Enterprise office in Benghazi, although Malta will almost definitely have a consulate there.
Malta’s commercial office in Tripoli was first set up in 2000 and served primarily as a focal point for Maltese companies interested in penetrating the Libyan market. It also promoted the benefits and advantages offered by Malta to international companies operating in Libya.
The commercial office also organised a number of fact finding missions to various Libyan cities including Misurata, Benghazi and Tobruk for Maltese businessmen to meet their Libyan counterparts.
Furthermore, the Malta Enterprise office in Tripoli organised numerous trade missions to Libya and co-organised a Libyan-led trade mission to Malta together with the Libyan Business Council.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg told The Times Business that Malta had started the process of requesting the United Nations to unfreeze Libyan assets in Malta.
“In view of the United Nations Security Council resolution passed a few days ago we have started a process requesting the authorisation from the UN sanctions committee to unfreeze Libyan assets in Malta in line with the resolution,” Dr Borg said.
On Friday the UN Security Council eased sanctions on Libya, including on its national oil company and central bank, to enable key institutions to recover after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime.
The 15-nation council voted unanimously for a resolution that also establishes a UN mission in Libya to help the North African nation get back on its feet after its popular revolution.
In Friday’s resolution, the Security Council declared “its determination to ensure that assets frozen pursuant to (UN sanctions resolutions) shall as soon as possible be made available to and for the benefit of the people of Libya.”
Frozen Libyan assets in Malta amount to €377 million, €86 million of which belong to the Gaddafi family.