The Prime Minister of the Libyan outgoing Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni inaugurated the Libya-Italy Economic Forum on Tuesday.
During the forum, the GNU signed seven cooperation agreements with the Italian government. Minister of Trade and Economy at the GNU, Mohamed Al-Hwaij, and his Italian counterpart signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation between the two nations’ civil aviation authorities.
According to the GNU’s official Facebook page, additional MoUs were signed. These included:
1. An MoU between the Ministry of Local Governance and the Libyan-Italian Chamber of Commerce.
2. An agreement between the General Union of Libyan Chambers of Commerce and its Italian counterpart.
3. An MoU between the Libyan Export Development Center and the Italian Foreign Trade Agency.
4. Another agreement between the GNU, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, and Simest (an Italian financial institution).
5. A memorandum signed between the Libyan Foreign Bank and the Joint Libyan-Italian Chamber of Commerce.
6. Finally, a healthcare cooperation MoU between the GNU’s Support and Development of Medical Services Agency and Italy’s GKSD Investment Holding.
In her remarks, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the resumption of flights to Libya by Italy’s ITA Airways starting in January. She emphasized that Italy prioritizes its relationship with Libya, while noting that bilateral relations have not yet reached their full potential. Meloni also expressed her government’s intent to revive cooperation projects that had previously stalled.
According to the Italian news agency Nova, more than 100 representatives from Italian business sectors, along with key economic figures, arrived in Tripoli via an ITA Airways flight to attend the forum.
