Today, the National Union of Libyan workers expressed its strong disaproval with “the crime of shutting oil fields and ports” in the country.
In a statement, the Union expressed that blocking oil fields will seriously damage the national economy ,compound the suffering of Libyan citizens, and also condemned all parties involved in this harmful operation.
The National Union called on the United Nations, the Security Council as well as the Arab and African organizations to face those who are standing behind the blockades.
As a part of the preparations for 2020 tuna fishing season, Libya’s Ministry of Economy discussed organizing and regulating tuna exports in yesterday’s meeting at the Ministry’s headquarters in Tripoli .
During the meeting, participants discussed the importance of coordinating the relevant Libyan authorities to prepare a brochure of conditions in accordance with specifications and standards for hunting, selling and exporting tuna.
The meeting also debated the establishment of a mechanism for granting fishing and export licenses for each season on reduced terms.
Moreover,vmeasures to ensure that the national economy benefits from the export of tuna and provides hard currency were discussed as well.
In a statement published today, the United Nations in Libya regrets that its regular flights, which transport its staff to and from Libya, are not granted permission by the LNA to land in Libya. This practice has been repeated on several occasions in the past weeks.
The United Nations is very concerned that preventing its flights from traveling in and out of Libya will severely hinder its humanitarian and good offices effort at a time when all its staff are working relentlessly to push forward the ongoing three-track intra-Libyan dialogue and to provide the much-needed humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable conflict-affect civilians.
Yesterday, the Libyan Human rights activist Zahra Langhi was shortlisted for the Athena40 List 2020 that recognises innovative women as peacemakers.
Zahra Langhi was nominated by the public, and voted by a panel of independent judges.
It is important to note that the former First Lady of the United States of America Michelle Obama, the former German football player Rocky Hehakaija, as well as the Director and Founder at Women Empowerment Organization (WEO), Iraq, Susan Aref, were among the list too.
Yesterday, Libya’s state National Oil Corporation confirmed a drop in production to the current level of 183,256 barrels per day, with losses exceeding 1 billion USD at 1,325,058,881 USD.
NOC stressed that storage facilities in Tripoli and some surrounding areas, as well as in Southern regions, are still facing some supply shortages due to the security situation .
It is worth noting that daily production was about 1,220,000 barrels per day before the declaration of force majeure on January 18, 2020.
Yesterday, UNSMIL reported that the Libyan economic experts gathered in Cairo agreed that the country’s dissolution affected its economy, and 3 commissions needed to be set up in order to study the situation.
UNSMIL stated that “on 9 and 10 February, 28 Libyan economic experts gathered in Cairo for the second round of talks of the Libyan Economic and Financial Track, one of the three intra-Libyan tracks UNSMIL is organizing – along with the military and political tracks – and endorsed by the International Conference on Libya held in Berlin, on 19 January 2020.”
“Representatives from across the Libyan political and geographical spectrum participated in the meeting, in addition to representatives of the main Libyan financial and economic institutions as well as sector specialists and academic experts. Participants agreed on the Terms of Reference for the Libyan Expert Economic Commission and its mechanisms.”
Nevertheless, “participants agreed that Libya’s prolonged institutional fragmentation and divergent policies were negatively impacting the economy, particularly the banking sector. Given the country’s worsening economic crisis, including the latest halt in oil production, the participants concluded that the Commission was needed to work on issues of immediate concern until a unified national government is established.”
“At the outset, the Commission will focus on improving revenue management and distribution, particularly how to enhance transparency and decentralization, as well as working to address the urgent banking crisis. The experts also examined challenges and opportunities for reconstruction and development. They will establish three working groups to tackle these problem sets in the coming weeks.”
“The Libyan economic experts’ meeting in Cairo was part of the final step of Special Representative of the Secretary General Ghassan Salame’s three-step plan to achieve a comprehensive and lasting settlement that addresses the underlying drivers of the Libyan crisis. The experts agreed to a next meeting in early March.”
“Representatives of the international community were invited for a briefing by participants on the results of the meeting.”
In a statement to “Tabadul”, an informed source claimed that today’s meeting held in Cairo and organized by the United Nations on the economic track in Libya, was attended by the Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs in Libya Stephanie T. Williams.
As a result, participants agreed to constitute three committees including economists and bankers under UN supervision.The first is concerned with reforming the banking sector, the second for the fair distribution of wealth, while the third is concerned with reconstruction.
During two days, the participants discussed a number of topics. The most prominent of which are reforming the Libyan economy, and unifying work within the Libyan economic corporations.
Our source, who preferred not to be named, indicated that a brief official statement is expected to be issued today at night.
He also added that the second meeting was agreed to be held in the first week of March, while the place has not been determined yet.
