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Tripoli, 6 May:
The Minister of Communications and Transport, Yousef Weheshy, highlighted the importance of the investment in tourist areas in the . . .[restrict]strengthening of the economy and the creation of an alternative national resource to oil and gas.
Commenting at yesterday’s official re-opening ceremony of Ghadames airport, he stressed that his Ministry has made tourism areas in Libya, including the area of Ghadames, amongst its priorities.
These priorities included the creation of all the necessary circumstances and conditions to aid the tourism sector such as the airport, which serves the region. He called upon all to seize the opportunities to provide assistance to tourism agencies to market tourism.
For his part, the Minister of Economy, Ahmed Koshly, who was also attending the ceremony, stressed the importance of the development of remote areas and the developments of airports in Libya as a catalyst for future economic activity.
He went on to explain that his Ministry was willing to provide ideas and programmes across all areas and provide the necessary facilitation through its Privatization and Investment Board (PIB) to create suitable job opportunities for locals of the border areas.
The PIB is Libya’s investment arm, which offers special benefits such as tax and customs duty relief for any investments under its specific Investment Law No. (9) of 2010.
Moreover, Minister Koshly went on to reveal that an agreement with his Algerian counterpart had been reached on the development of the border area, to treat it as a commercial area so as to reduce the phenomenon of illegal activity.
In this regard, the Minister of Economy went on to announce that a workshop has been organized in Ghadames specifically for small-sized enterprises which will help create job opportunities for youth.
It is worth noting that the city of Ghadames, which has suffered marginalization over the last decades, became a famous tourist destination for Italians, during Libya’s Italian era. [/restrict]
