Abu Dhabi And Libya To Step Up Economic Cooperation
Abu Dhabi and Libya have agreed to step up their economic cooperation by establishing joint investment vehicles, following a visit last week to Libya by Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Shaikh Muhammad bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan who met the Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qadhafi and his son Sayf al-Islam, as well as the Secretary of the General People’s Committee (Prime Minister), al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi. Investment organizations from Abu Dhabi and the Libyan Investment Authority signed a protocol to establish a joint venture company with a capital of $500mn to invest in real estate and tourism, a jointly-owned bank with a capital of $400mn, and a jointly-owned fund with a capital of $3bn to invest in services and projects. During the talks in Tripoli, Dr Mahmudi said that the door was wide open for all UAE companies and businessmen to take part in investment projects being implemented in Libya and invited UAE businessmen to team up with their Libyan counterparts to form joint ventures to invest in Libya and elsewhere. While the joint venture companies and bank are intended to focus on activities in Libya, which has attracted little foreign investment in the past two decades, their activities will also include investments in the UAE.
Copyright MEES 2008.
