In a statement, the UNSMIL condemned the recent threats made by armed groups against the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and its subsidiary, the Brega Petroleum Marketing Company based in Tripoli.
“The NOC is and must remain a unified, independent, and apolitical institution that works for the benefit of all Libyans. These actions may constitute a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions and those responsible could be subject to sanctions,” the UNSMIL stated.
‘The NOC must be supported, not undermined,’ it added.
According to Sada economic newspaper, receiverships imposed on the assets of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in the UK have been lifted by the British Commercial Court.
The restart of flights between Malta and the North African country of Libya was one of the topics discussed in a raft of bilateral meetings held over the course of the last two days, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
Accordig to British newspaper “The Independent”, consistent scheduled flights between Malta and Libya by Air Malta have been on hold for a number of years now ever since the North African country descended into civil conflict. Only the airline Medavia has been connecting the two countries through a route run by one of its turbo-prop planes.
The commitment to restart flights between Malta and Libya was reiterated by the Foreign Ministries of both countries in a joint statement last August.
Now, meetings have seemed to delve further into the nitty gritty, with the Foreign Affairs’ Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Christopher Cutajar meeting Libya’s Director for International Cooperation within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Eddeb.
According to a government statement, the delegation discussed methods through which both parties can prepare for the resumption of direct flights between Malta and Libya, with the intention being to make it easier for one to arrive and leave from Libya while keeping in mind all the necessary security measures.
“This should lead to a resumption of Libyan investment in Malta and Maltese investment in Libya”, the statement read.
In separate meetings, the delegation met with the Deputy Home Affairs Minister Al Shaibani in order to discuss the migration sector and the agreement signed between Malta and Libya in this regard earlier this year.
In the city of Misurata meanwhile, a meeting with the local government was held, where the prospect of improving Malta’s economic ties with the city by facilitating commerce between the port of Misurata and ports in Malta and by opening a consulate there was discussed.
The Acting Head of the United Nations Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL), Stephanie Williams, stated during a virtual meeting with participants of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) that “the clock is ticking, and we have a collective responsibility before the Libyan people to advance this process of holding elections on 24 December 2021.” She also voiced her intention to form an advisory committee in order to overcome the obstacles for the aforementioned selection mechanism.
The meeting tackled the necessary preparations for holding the elections as scheduled and the formation of a legal committee from the LPDF members to work on paving the way for the electoral process.
They also discussed ways of implementing all the key objectives of the political roadmap, primarily the mechanism for selecting the country’s next executive authority.
The banking expert and member of the joint technical committee tasked with unifying the exchange rate, Omran Al-sheybi, revealed that the budget of the Ministry of Finance aligned to the internationally recognized Libyan government, as well as the budget of the Ministry of Finance aligned to the Libyan interim government will be unified in a couple of weeks.
More than 120 Europe-bound migrants, including eight women and 28 children, were intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by Libya’s coast guard, the U.N. migration agency said Thursday.
The International Organization for Migration tweeted that a vessel carrying the migrants was stopped late Wednesday off the coast of the North African country and the passengers were returned to Libyan territories.
“We reiterate that Libya is not a port of safety,” the IOM said.
A group of 18 sailors who were seized by Libyan patrol boats in September while fishing in the Mediterranean have been freed by authorities in eastern Libya, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday.
The sailors, who include Italian and Tunisian nationals, were accused by local authorities of operating in Libya’s territorial waters. Italy disputed this.
“Our sailors are free,” Di Maio said in a post on Facebook shortly after he and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte flew to Benghazi for talks with military commander Khalifa Haftar, who holds sway in eastern Libya.
As far as approving an exchange rate of LYD 4.48 to 1USD is concerned, the Governor of Eastern Based Central Bank of Liba, Ali Al-Hebri, told Sada Economic Newspaper that this new official exchange rate is based on a study investigating all the imbalances of the Libyan economy.
Al-Hebri said that the exchange rate will be monitored and observed by an ad hoc committee meaning. Nevertheless, regular reports will be submitted to the council in order to make the necessary remedial action.
” The exchange rate will be accessible to all. Thus, a breakthrough with regard to liquidity crisis would be achieved,” he stressed, adding that the general budget will be in a state of equilibrium.
In a statment issued Wednesday, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) strongly condemned the desperate attempts of an armed group, under the cover of legitimacy, to intervene with exposed motives and in a dirty manner in the technical responsibilities of Brega Petroleum Marketing Company’s activities.
The National Oil Corporation warned this group that it will take all the necessary legal actions against its individuals involved in this “blackmailing”.
On the other hand, news has reported that the headquarters of one of the national oil companies will be targeted by car bombs in a different type of blackmailing against the national petroleum resources.
The NOC said it communicated with the disciplined security authorities which are adhered to the right law to make sure of the correctness and accuracy of this information.
As the National Oil Corporation said it will spare no effort in taking the entire deterrent legal actions on both local and international levels and it totally rejects such acts against the national oil sector and its employees who are making tremendous efforts to maintain the continuity of operating the entire facilities of the vital oil sector.
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday approved a proposal by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint Bulgarian Nickolay Mladenov as the U.N. Libya special envoy and Norwegian Tor Wennesland as the U.N. Middle East envoy, diplomats said.
Mladenov will replace Ghassan Salame, who stepped down as the U.N. Libya envoy in March due to stress, and Wennesland succeeds Mladenov, who has spent the past five years as the U.N. mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.
