Libya’s Oil Minister, Mohamed Aoun, praised the “historic” commercial and economic relations with China, saying his country has had friendly relations with all key actors in East and West.
In an interview with Libya Review, Aoun said that several Chinese companies entered the oil sector in Libya, and they still buy some shipments of Libyan oil.
“We are a developing country with vast lands and in need of having competitive prices. It is good for Libya to have friendly economic and commercial bilateral relations with China,” Aoun said.
He noted that several Chinese companies entered Libya during the previous regime, especially in the field of housing projects and others. “Beijing also has constructed electric power lines, so it has vast capabilities and we can benefit from it,” he explained.
“Chinese prices are reasonable when you compare them to the equipment coming from western countries. Their (Chinese) prices are very competitive and reasonable for the Libyan state,” the Minister added.
The Libyan Minister said his country is rich in natural resources and it needs companies to build plants for cement, steel, gold refining, uranium, solar power, and renewable energy. He invited Western and Eastern companies to bid for these big projects in Libya. “They can come to Libya and compete for the establishment of these projects.”
However, the Libyan Minister said that this depends on the continuation of development and the return to normalcy that was adopted by the government.
When asked about the dispute between China and Taiwan, Aoun said Taiwan should return to its origin. “I believe that if the origin of this land the greater country, it should return to its origin.”
He recalled the partition of lands from states in a manner that causes problems such as what happened in some African countries and also India and Pakistan. “Unfortunately, the colonising countries have created historic problems that continue to this day, and the people are still suffering from these problems,” he explained.
Notably, China is the largest Asian importer of Libyan oil, accounting for 4% of Libyan oil exports, while Europe is the largest importer of Libyan crude in the world, accounting for 75% of oil exports.
The volume of Libyan oil revenues exported to China exceeded about $1.7 billion in 2017, and rose to $3.5 billion in 2018, according to Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC).
Full Interview: