Badr El-Din Al-Toumi, the Minister of Local Governance for Libya’s Government of National Unity, recently received Ines Schuma, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Libya, along with her accompanying delegation. The meeting provided a platform to discuss a variety of issues and files of mutual interest and cooperation.
The gathering focused on reviewing and discussing the key files of joint work, along with the pillars being worked on with the Ministry of Local Governance within the framework of the United Nations’ cooperation in Libya.
Minister Al-Toumi provided an overview of the key portfolios that the ministry is advancing with organizations and agencies related to the mission, highlighting the fundamental pillars led by the ministry within the UN framework, particularly those related to peacebuilding and climate change.
The discussion also covered the ministry’s ongoing efforts regarding the transfer of competencies, activation of local revenues, and providing financial allocations to municipalities for implementing development projects. Al-Toumi pointed out the significant challenges in creating a conducive environment for municipalities to identify and prioritize their needs and manage their competencies.
Furthermore, he highlighted the ministry’s efforts in completing the transfer of competencies program, particularly noting that the ministry has finalized its plan to transfer the responsibility for primary healthcare to the municipalities and has begun the actual implementation steps. He emphasized that this portfolio requires substantial technical support from relevant UN agencies and organizations.
Al-Toumi, also the head of the government’s Emergency and Rapid Response Team, stressed that the preventive aspect of emergency intervention and rapid response necessitates joint work and calls for intensive meetings with the mission at both technical and advisory levels.
For his part, the Deputy Special Representative expressed his gratitude towards Al-Toumi for the shared information on joint work files, affirming the mission’s full readiness to provide all necessary support across various fields to achieve the common goals of both sides.
He noted that the files managed and supervised by the Ministry of Local Governance are closely linked to the mission’s work, adding that he was informed by the previous representative that significant progress has been made in the internal displacement file, indicating that considerable efforts have been made in this area which have been crowned with success, signaling the imminent closure of the file.
Both parties emphasized the need to intensify meetings of specialized teams to achieve the objectives of the general framework.
