On Sunday, the United Nations Technical Committee, composed of Libyan ministries and the UN entities in Libya held a meeting in Tripoli. This was to discuss ways of implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023-2025.
In a statement, the UN Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL) said that attendees “stressed the need for close coordination at the technical level between Libyan ministries, and UN entities to achieve the goals of the Cooperation Framework, based on the joint action plan for 2023.”
It added that Sunday’s meeting was co-chaired by Taher Baouer, Director of PMO’s Foreign Affairs Department, and by Samir Anouti, OiC Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Country Director.
In October 2022, Tripoli hosted a high-level ceremony marking the launch of the UN Framework for 2023-2025.
The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, and the Head of UNSMIL, Abdoulaye Bathily.
Assistant Secretary-General, Resident, and Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya Georgette Gagnon, the Ambassadors of Britain, Spain, the European Union, Germany, and representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Development Program (UNDP), and UNICEF also attended the event.
Bathily expressed his appreciation for the “systematic cooperation between the United Nations and the Libyan government, within the sustainable development goals.”
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December, and the refusal of Prime Minister Dbaiba, who is leading the transitional government, to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.