By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 5 December 2017:
Libya and the US have agreed to continue working together to stop funds going to terrrosists and terrorist organisations. The issue was one of the points of discussion in talks in Washington yesterday between Presidency Council (PC) head Faiez Serraj and US Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. A statement afterwards from the US Treasury Department said that economic issues facing the Libyan people had been discussed and that Mnuchin had welcomed the department’s “strong engagement” with the PC’s government of national accord (GNA) and the Central Bank of Libya (CBL).
He was referring to the lead the Americans have taken via the US embassy to Libya in trying to bring about economic stability in Libya. The US has mentored a series of financial and economic dialogue meetings – in London, Rome and Tunis – aimed at ensuring the PC and the GNA have the funding from the CBL to function properly.
The statement also noted that both men “underscored the importance of continued cooperation in countering the financing of terrorism”.
Thanking the US for its support in trying to resolve the financial and economic crises, Serraj told Mnuchin that these were key elements in the broader Libyan disaster.
According to a statement from his office, Serraj also said that he believed that Libya could overcome the crisis, if a package of economic and monetary policies were put in place in cooperation with the CBL. He also added that the liquidity crisis and the issue of the value of the Libyan dinar had to be resolved. He further explained that he had launched an bid to bring together the CBL in Tripoli and the parallel administration in Benghazi and so unify monetary policy, noting that there had been invitations to Tripoli CBL head Saddek Elkaber and his Benghazi counterpart Ali Hibri to meet with him.
Hibri has accepted but Elkabber has not.
Attending the meeting were Libyan foreign minister Taher Siala and US ambassador Peter Bodde.
Continuing his Washington trip, Serraj also met leaders of a number of US NGO involved in the democratic process and elections. These included USAID, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute(IRI) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
On Sunday, he met with members of the Libyan community in the US.
