ilf president basit igtet speaks to arabian business about libya's economic path

5/14/2018 ILF President Basit Igtet Speaks to Arabian Business about Libya's economic path ...

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FIRST WORDAND.. BHOYRUL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Don 't le t L ibya to lo~ Iraq 's econom ic pat,h,

Itas only been three months since

the death ofthe former Libyan

leader Colonel Gaddafi, Nobodyquite believed the media reports at

the time - and nobody would ever

have believed that just three months on,a UABdelegation of over 100 business

leaders would be landing inTripoll t<]

begin talks with new Libyan leaders onhow best to rebuild the war-torn nation.

Alot has happened in a very short spaceoftime, most ofit positive. Our chief

reporter Shane McGinleywas on the first

Etihad Airwaysflight into Tripoli lastweek, and his special report from Libya

starts on page 28.What struck Shane, and

forthat matter most people who havebeen to Libya post-Gaddafi, isjust how

bad things are. Mass poverty. Crumbling

infrastructure. Failing services. Hugeunemployment. Dwindling education

standards. Itmakes you realise just how

spectacular a job Gaddafi had done ofruining his own country. especially when

you consider Libya had a GOP close tomost European nations, and the world's

ninth largest oil reserves.Little wonder some of the UAE'sbiggest

business leaders were keen to be on the

first Etihad flight there. Libya needs $8bnofinvestment just to rebuild its airports.

Add to that the oil and gasproduction

and seaports, education, technology andhealth services, and you are soon talking

about numbers well over $50bn.Alongside Qatar, the UABis wellplaced

to strike good deals. Both countriesofficiallyrecognised the Libyan rebels asthe official government ofthe country

long before Gaddafi was toppled, so thereisno shortage of goodwill.

But goodwill on its own won't be

enough. Just look at Iraq - it's beenmore than eight years since the US

invasion and over a trillion dollars hasbeen pumped into the country but

its economy ishardly worth shouting

~ Land of p rom is e: Th e Ub ya n p eop le need to se e signs of ~ Ulree IIlOtJttI$IIfter the fal l of Gaddafl.

about. Nearly a quarter oflraqis are

still living below the poverty line, Whileunemployment is at fifteen percent-

including one millionpeople under theage of34.The country still only manages

to generate 60percent ofthe 15,000

megawatts of electricity needed per day,while 25percent ofBaghdad's residents

are without clean-water.

The lesson ofpost-war Iraq wasthat the decision making process was

flawed - nobody really took charge.and corruption was quickly rife.And

everything took just too long to bappen(or just never happened).The UAEcurrently has $2hn of

investments inLibya and is hoping

to quickly turn that into $5bn.Will it

happen? AsMashreq boss Abdul AzizAI

Ghurair, also on the Tripoli trip, told us:"If it turns out to be a very slowprocess

then UAEcompanies will go somewhere,else.Wecan wait a year or two but we

can't wait ten years for a country to

open up to business. Ihink Libya is

at a crossroads. Wewere alloptimisticwith Iraq at the liberation time and

we thought Iraq was a goldmine and

everybody was preparing to go to-Iraq

but itis almost many years, sixyears

since and nothing has happened in Iraq.Veryfew companies inIraq were able to

goand set up business there."

He couldn't be more right. The very factthat the UAEbusiness leaders were in

Tripoli within three months ofGaddafi's

death is a sign that countries are keen to

move fast. Just as importantly, the Libyanpeople quickly need to see signs ofprogress. The europhria of the revolution

will only last another couple ofmonths,

after which progress must be seen tohappen. So far the signs arethatUbya

won't turn into another Iraq. But thenext twelve months will also determine

whether itwill become the oasis of

opportunity that Gulf companies areexpecting it to. IE

6 AI\AIlIAN au SlNESS I VOL. 13 1 04



COUNTRY REPORT LIBYA

AsLibya's temporarygovernment looks to get thecountry back on its feet after

the fall of its iconic ruler, theUAEled a IOO-strong delegationto the country to assess therequirements andopportunities.

B¥ SIlANE MCGINLEY

ARABIAN BUSINESS IVOL.131 04



------------"----_ _

-------------------------------------------------------------------LIBYA CODNTRY1\EPORT

DR IV IN G T HR Ol JG H ?R IP _O LI 'S L UN CH TI ME

tra ffic w ith a p olic e esc ort, it 's n ot

d if fi cu lt t o s ee w hy Libyans became

so d ise nch an ted w ith th eir f orm er

leader an d self ap po in ted 'K in g o f

K in gs '. Th e ro ad s a re s tre wn w it h c ra ck s a nd

po th o le s, t he b u il di ng s h a ve a m a ss p ro d uc ed

1 96 0s u glin ess a bo ut th em , t he ca rs stu ck in

g ri dl ocked t ra f fi c j am s a r e a pa tchwork mix of

ru sted c olo urs an d th e en tire c ity is c ov ered

i n a la ye r o f r u bb is h.

B efore the onset o f the A rab Spring,

w h ic h a ls o c la im e d l ea de rs i n n ei gh b ou r -

i ngEgyp t a nd 'I un is ia , L i byawa s r e ga rde das o ne o f t he ric hest c ou nt rie s inNorth

A frica , 'W ith a G DP p er cap ita o n a p ar

with s om e E as te rn E u ro pe an n at io ns .

D espite holding the world's ninth

L arg est o il rese rve s, f ew o f t h e b illio ns o f

petrodolla rs trickled down to the aver-

age L ibyan on the stree t. U nder Colonel

M u amm ar G ad da fi, y ou th u ne mp lo ym en t

insom e parts of the country rose as h igh

as 50 p ercen t, average h ou sin g w as o f a lo w

stan dard an d edu catio n levels w ere lo wer

th an t ho se in T un isia , w hic h h as little o il.

W ith the du st still se ttling on the new

c aret ak er g ov ern me nt p ut in p la ce a ft er th e

r evo lu t ion , Abu Dhab i c a rr ie r E t ih a dA l cways

earlier in th e m on th m ade its m aiden f ligh t

b ack to llip oli an d b ro ugh t w ith it a de le ga-

tio n f ro m th e U A E. L e ad in g th e 1 00 -stro ng

g ro u p o f b u s in es s l ea de rs d own t he re d carpe t

was UAEMin i st e r o f S t at e f o rFeder al Na t iona l

Counci l Af f a ir s Dr Anwa r Ga rga s h.

"1 t hink Ubya is basica lly in a stage of

r eb irt h," h e observes, The ru bble tha t lays

o ver th e rem ain s o f B ab A IAziziya, Gadaff i 's

form er com pound and the site of a f ierce

b attle in th e f in al st ag es o f th e c iv il war, is a

c le ar e xa mp le o f t h e c ha ng es t ak in g p la ce .

D u rin g t he c iv il war, th e U A Ewas one of a

n umb er o f G u lf s ta te s t ha t p ro vid ed m ilit arys up po rt d ur in g t he UN -im p os ed n o-f ly z on e.

W h en t he r eb el f ig ht er s t oo k c on tro l, t he UAE

w as the second A rab cou ntry - after Qatar

- to recognise the new governm ent as the

o nly l eg it im at e r ep re se nt at iv e o f t he L ib ya n

people .

W it h t he c ou n tr y lo ok in g t o r eb u ild it se lf ,

t he UAEi s h o p in g c lo se t ie s b et we en t he t wo

countr ies will lea d to a slew o f co mmercial

opportuni t ies .

"W hen w e su pp orted th e L ib yan p eo ple

th e c omm erc ia l [in te rests] o f th e DAEw ere

th e last th in gs o n ou r m in d. D ill decisio n to

su pport the L ibyan people was a hu mani-tarian p olitical decisio n an d I do n't th in k

that su pport w as in an y w ay tied to fu tu re

comme rc ia l i n te re s ts ," s a ys Ga rga sh .

"O ur d ecis ion to su pp ort

th e L ib yan p eo ple was a

human ita ria n p o litic al

d ec is io n a nd Idon' tth ink that support w as

in any w ay tied to fu tu re

comme rc ia l in te re sts "

" Th is i s a p er io d w he re Libyawill n eed th e

c oo pe ra tio n o f a l l c o un tr ie s a nd t he s up po rt

o f all f rien ds. W e are f rien ds o f L i by a an d w e

hope to play ou r p art. I think it is ou r du ty to

try a nd m ak e so me th in g t ha t is c omm erc ia l

a nd b e a ble to b e m u tu ally b en ef icia l f or o ur

L ib y an p ar tn e rs a nd f or o u rs el ve s. "

W ith a h ost o f h ig h p ro file U AE b u sin ess-

m en inh is en to urag e, in clu din g S ult an B in

S ulay em , c hairm an o fD ub ai p ort s o pe ra to r

D P W orld , a nd A bd ul A ziz A l G h u ra ir, C EO

of M ashreq bank, G argash says the U AE is

eager to help the new governm ent m ake u p

f or t im e lo st d urin g m ore t han f ou r d eca des

o f G a dd af i r u le .

"W e h av e in ve st me nt a pp et it e a nd in ve st -

m en t cap acity an d w e w ant to p ut this in o ur

trad itio na l a re as. O u r tra ditio nal area s are

o il an d gas, to urism , p orts, avia tio n an d, o f

cour se, t e lecommuntea t ions ,

"W e ho pew e are ab le to h ave an in pu t in to

t he se t h in g s. N a tlU al ly .w e , a s a g ove rnm e nt ,

p er ha ps h elp illt he d ir ec tio n b u t t he p riv at e

co mp an ies n eed to reach w hat is a feasib le

c omme rc ia l d ea l, " s ay s G a rg as h.

D ub ai -b ased b usin essm an A bd ul Aziz AI

Ghura i r s ays "cur ren t ly the re isab ou t $ 2b n in

in vest men t in lib ya f ro m th e Em irat es," b ut

h e is c on fid en t t hi s will increa se drama tical ly

in t he s ho rt -t er m, " I think it will g r ow . I e xpe c t

$ 5 bn i s d o ab le within f iv e y e ars f or t he UAE."T hese c omm erc ial in teres ts a re a lrea dy

b eg in nin g to tak e sh ap e, w ith th e lu crat iv e

o il secto r th e o bvio us f irst p ort o f c all. T wo

y ea rs a go A I G hu ra ir 's D ub ai-b as ed f am ily

f irm e st ab li sh e d t he L ib y an Em i ra ti R e fi ni ng

C om pany, a jo in t ven tu re with the L ibyan

Na ti ona l O i lCo r po ra t ion , ina b id t o o pe ra te

th e R as Lanu f oi l r e fine ry .

L i bya 's l ar ge s t r ef in e ry , Ras La nu t , w h ic h

accou nts for arou nd half o f the cou ntry 's

t o ta l o i l r e f in i ng ca pa c it y , will re sum e o u tp u t

w ith in "the next few m onths" and there are

plans afoo t to nearly double the cu rren t

capaci ty, says AIGhura i r ."W e a re looking to expand to dou ble the

c ap ac it y. O n ce w e h av e t he e xp an sio n p la n w e

s ho u ld b e d o in g 400 ,0 00 b ar re ls . .. T h e e xp an -

29

I

I I



COUNTRYREPORTUBYA

sion will take four years," he says.

The Has Lanuf deal was first proposed in

2006 and AI Ghurair says the Transitional

National Council has been much easier to

deal with than Gaddafi's regime.

"[With Gaddafil it was a single man's

decision. There was no process. You didn't

have institutions when you dealt with him.

When you deal with an individual it depends

on his mood. 1thirik the current government

is much fairer and much more transparent

and we expect to conclude this deal on

commercial terms."

While AI Ghurair is quietly confident, he

says UABcompanies are not prepared towait

forever and their experience inIraq has shown

that the impetuous needs to be grasped

quickly before Libya'smoment passes. "Ihope

they learn and there is enough pressure on

everybody to speed up rebuildlingthe country.

Ifthey sort out their issues Ithink you will seea lot of Emirates coming here.

"If i t turns out to be a veryslowprocess then

UAE companies will go somewhere else.We

can wait a year or two but we can't wait ten

years for a country to open up to business.

"1think. Libya is at a crossroads. We were

all optimistic with Iraq at th'i0iberation

time and we thought Iraqwas a goldnnine

and everybody was preparing to go to Iraq

but it is almost many years, six years since

and nothing has happened in Iraq. Veryfew

companies in Iraq were able to go and set

up business there. The decision making has

been slow so investors from the Emirates arelooking somewhere else."

On the global stage, the UABis known as a

prornlnent player in the seaport and airport

sectors, both of which factor heavily in the

Gulf state's plans for Libya.

It is therefore no surprise that prominent

among the top table during the reception

in Tripoli for the UAE delegation is Sultan

Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman ofDPWorld.

"We are coming onan exploratory mission.

We are interested in Libyan ports and we've

been in touch with them in the past," Bin

Sulayem says. "And now that there is a new

government in Libya we want to know whatthe Libyan side wants so we can prepare

ourselves to coop emte with them."

At present the Libyan interim government

is only in talks wnh potential partners ahead

ofan elected government being put inplace,

but its current representatives are eager to

interact with UAEprivate fums.

"We do need to have to share the experi-

ence of others ill the form of strategic part-

ners, especially in managing seaports. I am - UAEMin i s t e r of s t a t e for Federa l NatIonal C o u n c I l Affairs D r A n w a r Garpsh .

"Now that there is a newg ov emment in L ib ya w e

wan t to know what theL ibyan s ide want s so w e

can p rep ar e ou rse lv es tocoop erate w ith them "

needs to invest millions of dollars to get the

port's collapsed platforms and otberfacilities

back into shape. Maintenance work has not

been done for years.

"We are not asking for extra money," said

Adel AITorni, 43, an administrative clerk

who has been working at the port for fifteen

years. "We want the company to take care

of the port."

Within. the aviation sector, ElUheshi says

Libya needs around $8bn in investment to

fund the rebuilding ofits airports. "Wewantto

restart the sooner the better ... I twon't be less

than $8bn for the aviation industry," he says.

Around $6bn ofthis will go towards the new

'Irlpoll International Allport, FadlAhmad Ibn

Nusaira, the airport's deputy commandant,

tells Arabian Bus iness , and he isconfident the

UABwill help contribute to this. "Inthe next

open totalk.with anybody who can conclude

a fair agreement," says Yousef El Uheshi,

Libyan Minister ofTransport.

The country's ports, battered from the

impact oflast year's civil war and decades of

neglect, are inneed of urgent attention, as

hlghlighted earlier in the month when port

workers in'llipoli went on strike overworking

conditions. Workers say the new government

30 ASABLAN BUSINESS IVOL 13/04



--------~-.~----------------LIBYA COUNTRY REPORT

... A bd uIA z iz A l B bm aIr .C E O, M a sh mq bank .

twoyears itwill be finished.We are looking forUAB [investment] ,"he says.

The recent relaunch of Etihad Airways'

route to Tripoli is an example of this

12 investment and Gargash says the return of

~ UAE carrier to the country isa positive step

g , but he wants to build further on this and

j =;~~ther operators to follow Etihad's

~ "The flights are arteries for frequency of

:;E exchanges. This is the first step and we areSfi lookiogformanymoreflightsfromtheubyan

"" side and our side and this is extremelyirnpor-

iant, ..Idon't speak for Emirates butl do hope

6theyrestart, Ihopewe have asmany flights as

Ii: economically feasible," he says.

~ The Etihad service is the only direct

~ commercial flight between the UAE and

~ libya's capital city, but the Abu Dhabi-based

operator is looking to increase its service todaily as soon as possible, says Ahmed Bin

MohamedAl Suwaidi, head of security and

government relations at Etihad. "We should

build a bridge in relations between the two

nations ... For the time being itwill only be

three flights a week, we hope to increase it to

seven."

In addition to oil and gas, aviation and

seaport investment, Gargash says there are

many other ways the UAE hopes to tap into

"W e have many , ma ny

exper i ences no t business-re lated . W e want to talkto th e L ibyans about th etransfer o f knowledge"

" . Ub y a 's ports, b a : t I : e n ! d from

tIie impact of last yeats civi l war

an d d e c : a d e s - o f neg lect . a re In

n e e d of urgent ~on.

Ubya's future potential. "Wehave many. manyexperiences not business- related. We want

to talk to the Libyans about the transfer of

knowledge."

One possibility on the table is training

Ubya's police officers and security forces. "We

do have that experience. we have trained in

Iraq, we have trained in Afghanistan and we

have trained in many areas, but these are the

sort of conversations we will have," he adds.

Looking to the future, Gargash says he is

confidentUbyahasabrightfutureandbring~

ing it back into the fold is clearly top of the

agenda for many Arab League nations.

"Libya isstarting to take its rightful place.Libya's voice has been heard inmany of the

Arab League meetings and in much of the

regional politics and I think Libya has priori-

ties and these issues must take priority." r : ! l l

11



COUNTRYREPORTLIBYA

Basit Igtet, president of the Independent LibyaFoundation, has a long family history of fighting forhuman rights and he is determined the rebuilcling of Libya

will be a success, but hewants it to be on Libyan terms,regardless of the agendas of those offering support.

B "lLUolE MCGINLI!<

WliBNYOU Aftl! SUFPEI\1NG ORIN NEED

of help you soon find out who

your real friends are, some-thing the new government in

Libya is clearly finding Out atthe moment as it looks around the world to

see who .....ill step up to the mark and help it

rebuild its economy and who are the good

Samaritans and who are the vultures.

The UAEgovernment this month sent a

delegation to Libya to assess the investmentoppornmities and the needs of the new

government, but stated that it flrsi and fore-most wanted tohelp the country get back on

its feet and any commercial benefits were anadded bonus.

32 ARABIAN BUSINESS IVOL-l31 04



UBYACOUWTRYREPORT

.. .. N a t io n al T r ansi ti on al COunc il chairman M u sta ta A bd ul J aD i.

Bas it I gt et , p re sid en t o ft he I nd ep en de nt

libya Foundation (ILF), a n o n- pr of it m a ki ng

o rg an is at io n d ev el op ed b y s up po rt er s o f the

libyan people an d dedicated to t h e c re a ti o n

of an independent, unified and democr at ic

cou ntry , says he is inclined to believe the

UAE 's r u le rs b u t iss ce pt ic al o f s om e o th ers

t ha th av e b ee n quick t o o ff er s u pp o rt

"W e are n ot going to forget o ur friends,e sp eci all y t he Em ir at es . T he Em ira te s a t t he

b eg in al agwa sv er y d ea r: t he y s aid 'w e a re n ot

in te re st ed in y ou r b us in es s; w e are interested

,t 3 in a r ela ti on sh ip a s a human. '

O il " Ot he r c ou nt ri es t ha t h av e b ee n i nv olv ed

" " at t he b eg in nin g a nd ' started helping u s - a

'l G co un try e ve n v ery clo se to t he Em ira te s-'" w er e t ry in g t o n eg ot ia te w it h us deal s b e fo r e

! il giving us a ny h elp . W ew ere b le edin g a t this

~ tim e and itw as sad w hen y ou do n't have an y

~ choice and you are su ffering and you are sa d

id a bo u tt he p eo p le inf ro nt o f y o u, b ut y ou h av e

~ to deal with it."

§ W hile Igtet is not drawn into nam ing~ nam es, he is obviously m ore scathing and

-e s us pi ci ou s o f Qatarand t he ir t ru e i nt en si on s(.j

~ ins u pp o rt in g L i by a.

~ "Qatar, I k now this country inside ou t, I

._ T he N a t iG l la I T r a n si t io n al C o u n cI l hasaceused

Algeria of s up po rt in g M u amma r Gaddafi .

w as a developer in Q atar at the very begin-

ning. Qatar is d if fe re nt t o t he Em ir at es . T h ei ri nt er es t i s i n L i by a f o r s u r e b u t we a lway s h aveto be , from ou r p e rsp ec ti ve , careful who we

partner with.

"We ar e t h e b al co ny o fB u ro pe a nd t he g at e-

w a y o f A f ri ca .I a nn ot sa y so m et hin g to da y

bu t t i rnewi ll1e tu s know. Ev er yb o dy h as t he ir

ow n a ge nd a - th e E m ira te s, S au di orQatar ~

w e a re o nl yh um a n. B u tw h at .k in d o f v is io n: is

i t s h o rt - te rm o r l on g- te rm? Doesit add va lu e

t o om n at io na l v is io n? I t i s b ad t o ju dg e p eo pl e

in advance, bu t w e have to be c a re f u l. "

I gt et i smo r e scathingin his a t ti tu d e t oA lg e -

r ia , w hic h t he N at io na l Transitional Councila ccu se d o f s up po rtin g G add af ia nd h elp in g

h im to tra ff ic arm s in to t he co un try t hro ugh

it s t errito ry a nd sh elte rin g m em be rs of hi sfamily:·

"I t is a r el at io n sh ip b etw ee n g ov er nme n ts

and the rela tion ship doesn 't co unt. T hat is

how we look at it and w e learn from -th is

and we learn who is ou r friend and who is

o ur e nem y.

"W hen w e speak abou t enem y, we speak

abou t governments , n o t n a ti on s. A lg er ia , t he

g ov er nme n t n e ve r h ad r el at io n s to th e Libyan

n at io n a nd a lw ay s h a d r el at io ns t o G a dd af i ...

50 w e w er e a l it tl e d is ap po in te d," h e s ay s.The IL F i s a l re ad y a li gn in g i ts el fw it h s ome

big we st er n a ll ie s. Its base is inBr us se ls . s o it

c an d eve lop s t ro nge r links with t h e Eu rope an

U nio n a nd in F eb ru ary itwill h os t t he b oa rd '

33


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, I

COUNTRY BEPORT LIBYA

. .. . T h e I n d e p en d e n t Libya Foundat ion (Iif) is a nO l t -pn l fl t organisat ion dedlcated to tfIe ~ of an Independent. unified an d d e m o c : r . i t ic : Ub y a .

ofthe US-Libya Chamber ofCommerce, who

will tour the country on the invitation of the

National Transitional Council and will be thefirst official US-led business delegation into

libyasmcetheinstallmentofthelibyanCabi-

net on 19August.

In setting up the ILE Igtet is following in

a strong family tradition to support human

rights and he sees the struggle almost as

his birthright "When the revolution started

inFebruary 2011 I made a commitment to

myself to support it until the end. Iknew we

hada chance forfreedom but Ilso know free-

dom does not come without sacrifice.

"My father sacrificed his life for freedom

and human rights in Libya in the early years of

Gaddafi's regime as did his father, my grand-father, against Mussolini before him. The start

ofthis revolution was a clear call ofduty,itwas

my time to continue my family's long fight

against injustice."

But he doesn't see the ILF's work stop-

ping at the libyan borders, lgtet has experi-

ence around the world, especially in Sou th

America. and he believes Libya needs to

be an example to others that they do not

have to live under corrupt dictatorships

and there is an alternative.

"We believe our success inthe coming

months and years is not only important forlibya but also for our neighbours inAfrica

and other nations around the world, mostly

inSouth America, whose people are strug-

gling under oppressive regimes as oms did

for 42 years. We believewehave a duty to help

these people; tobe an example and aresource

to them as they too str ive to break free.

"We gained back our humanity and we

expressed ourselves c1earlythat we dontwant

to be belonged; we have our vision Libya

is a brand today; we want to brand it Itis a

shame. You see countries booming, but you

see people dying.

' 'We a re commit ted to

p ro te ctin g Ubya 's h ard

earn ed freed om and

honouring the human

sbugg le th e revolution

r epre sen t s"

"That is a shame ofhumanity. This move-

ment that happened in Libya, it is human-

ity standing back up .. _Wehave to help thismovement, wbichis why Ipeak about South

America.

'~we look forward to 2012 we have a lot

of work to do. This, the foundational devel-

opment of our nation, we believewill be our

most important work. This year we will seek

to accurately discover the true condition of

Libya as a nation. Wewill invest ourselves to

responsibly evaluate and prioritise the coun-

try's needs aswell as estimate its potentials

in order to provide the most effective and

ecological support in tbeyears to come.

"We are committed to protecting libya's

hard earned freedom and honouring thehuman struggle the revolution represents.

We also recognise that with this new earned

freedom comes great responsibility. We at

the IL F seek to honour this freedom, and the

many people who risked and sacrificed their

lives - both Libyans and those from France,

the UK , USAand Qatar amongst others- to

gain it by investing ourselves wholly inlibya

and working tirelessly to support the evolu-

tion oflibyan society." a m

34 AIlABIAN BUSINBSS IVOl ..13104

ilf president basit igtet speaks to arabian business about libya's economic path

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