TRIPOLI, 4 July 2004 — Libya has already begun exporting oil to the United States, Libyan Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem announced. Speaking at a news conference following a meeting with US and British financial experts late Friday, Ghanem said Libyan-American relations have improved.
“Many of the obstacles between Libya and the US have been removed and many problems between us solved,” Ghanem said. In its bid to develop the economy, Libya plans to privatize 361 state-run companies.
Ghanem said 160 such companies have already been privatized and that multi-national companies have already been invited to “contribute to the ownership of these companies.” The announcement comes less than a week after Libya and the United States resumed direct diplomatic ties, 24 years after a mob set the U.S. embassy in Tripoli on fire and Washington shut down its diplomatic mission there.
Assistant Secretary of State William Burns made the announcement during a visit to Libya, where he met with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. Burns formally inaugurated a new US liaison office in Tripoli. US President George W. Bush in April lifted economic sanctions against Libya to reward the country for dismantling its weapons of mass destruction programs. The decision allowed US companies, mainly in the oil sector, to start doing business in Libya for the first time since sanctions were enacted in 1986.
“One hundred and sixty public companies have been transferred to the private sector and major international firms have been invited to take part in this privatization,” he said, without expanding further.
The government later announced that a total of 360 companies would be privatized between 2004 and 2008. The capital of 54 of them is expected to be opened to foreign investors in July, according to the minister in charge of the program Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Fitissi.
