The operations of international experts (including a group of Spanish military personnel) are currently collaborating in the training of units of the Libyan National Army, so that the control of illegal immigration now exceeds 60%, drug trafficking does not have a free rein, young people are studying at elite universities and, most importantly, the terrorism of Daesh and Al Qaeda is eradicated, thanks to the work carried out by its Armed Forces, under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. Currently, the threat of terrorist groups, which try to operate from countries on its southern border, led to the latest attack in Tripoli: the attempted assassination of the minister, Adel Jomaa, last Tuesday, 12 February this year. 

The latest UN reports show that the Presidency of the House of Representatives has made public the decision to appoint the Board of Directors of the Central Bank, and the full Board held its first meeting on 10 November.

For the Mayor of Benghazi, Alsaquer Emran Abojwary, the security parameter is the first step to influence the infrastructure of the tourism sector and to publicise the list of emblematic cities, declared by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites: Shahad, Souss Lybia, Loubda, Soubrata and Ghdmass, ‘We are preparing the Benghazi coast to receive the flow of tourists, an attractive area for businessmen’. The Mayor announced that work on the new airport west of Benghazi is 23% complete, with more than 20,000 hectares of connectivity between cities and expected to accommodate a flow of 5 million passengers per year. ‘We are trying to make this airport the most important airport in North Africa. We are in the first phase of development, both in the construction of hotel chains, as well as in the calculation of routes and good roads that allow the accommodation and rapid movement of visitors’.

As it is, thanks to the national reconstruction fund, Benghazi's uprising will take another two years. Barcelona could inspire the mayor's office to design its own city, albeit with its own identity. For the mayor of Benghazi, the entire government is working on security, the restoration of the country and the development of a selection of top quality hotels, along with luxury resorts for business trips and holiday breaks. Libya has spectacular tourist sites, such as Cyrene, a former Greek colony, located in what is now known as Shahhat, the gateway to the green mountain and desert. ‘But we need to lift up the country to be able to implement projects in this area. The city has to be attractive, first for living and then for tourists,’ says Alsaquer Emran Abojwary.

For his part, the head of foreign affairs, Dr Abdul Hadi Al-Hawaij, a key player in a new diplomatic identity, is developing friendship groups and consensual agreements between parliamentarians, while giving a large space to foreign business. ‘We are preparing the infrastructure for a giant construction site in Libya, open to any investor. The minister stresses that trade links do not have to wait for political decisions. ‘Our government belongs to the Mediterranean basin, a space for peace. ‘Italy, for example, works with both administrations,’ he continued, ’and is one of the best business partners between Tripoli and Benghazi. The foreign minister urges the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to create a consular office in Benghazi and to be part of its development and growth.

It is common knowledge that Libya is divided into two governments after the end of the war in 2011: the Government of National Unity (GNU), recognised by the United Nations and the international community, which controls the west of the country. The east and part of the south, 70 per cent of the territory, including the oil wells, is under the guardianship of the Benghazi parliament, led by Osama Hamad. Putting an end to the current division and walking together, in national reconciliation, is a purpose to which the Libyan foreign minister alludes, as the interests of its citizens prevail above all else: ‘we have made you, peoples and tribes, to know one another’, says one of the verses of the Koran, mentioned by Dr Abdul Hadi Al-Hawaij.

Author: Carmen Chamorro

Director of the CIP/ACPE and graduate in International Relations and Business Tourism from the SEI.