The Turkish-Arab Economic Forum kicked off in Istanbul on Friday with the participation of a broad Libyan governmental official delegation headed by the Minister of Economy and Trade, Muhammad al-Hawij.
Besides the minister of economy, the Libyan mission consisted of the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Saddek Elkaber, President of the Libyan General Union of Chambers of Commerce (GUCC) Muhammad al-Raidh, President of the Libyan Company for the Management of Joint Ventures with the Private Sector, Abdel Majid Mleigta, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Libyan Foreign Bank, Muhammad al-Darrat.
The event is being organized by (Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group) - a leading business communication group in the Arab world- in cooperation with the Turkish government.
Also joining the forum is the secretary-general of the Federation of Arab Chambers, the president of the Federation of Turkish Chambers and Exchanges, the Turkish deputy minister of finance, the president of the Turkish Businessmen Federation, and an array of businessmen and economic officials in Turkey and the Arab countries.
"Libya is a fertile area for investment in many fields, the most important of which is electricity, the transportation network, construction, petroleum products, and others," Libya's GUCC head said in his speech at the forum.
Al-Raid noted that many Turkish companies are active in these areas and urged them to continue working to demonstrate the strength of the Libyan-Turkish economic partnership, as he put it.
The GUCC head called for intensifying cooperation in the fields of investment and exchange of experiences and information, in addition to supporting Libya in breaking its economic isolation with Europe by opening airspace to Libyan aviation.
"Libya is considered a free zone and has made important strides, despite its recent experience in facilitating transit trade, and it is continuing its path towards making the country a major hub for trade exchanges between Africa and Europe," al-Raidh added.
He disclosed that Libya's trade with Turkey reached four billion dollars this year, making it the first trading partner with Libya, especially after the memoranda of understanding Libya signed with Turkey, which will massively support economic cooperation between the two sides, as he put it.