By Sami Zaptia.
London, 13 February 2021:
Libya’s Tripoli Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered the UN Sanctions Committee’s rejection of Belgium’s request to unfreeze the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), as an important diplomatic victory.
In its statement published today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the UN’s rejection came as a culmination of tireless national efforts that were coordinated between the Ministry, the LIA and the Permanent Mission of Libya to the United Nations to preserve Libyan funds and assets frozen by Security Council decision 1970 in 2011 against any attempt by any party to penetrate the freezing process and deduct sums from it under various pretexts.
The Ministry affirmed that the Sanctions Committee’s rejection of this request is a clear and explicit message to everyone who tries to harm Libyan funds and assets, and that the Libyan will and determination will remain strong and solid to confront anyone who tries to harm them, and all efforts will be made to preserve and employ them in a timely manner for the benefit of all Libyans.
It will be recalled that the UN Sanctions Committee had rejected yesterday, Friday, the request submitted by the Belgian government to lift the freeze on Libyan funds deposited with one of its banks, to deduct about 49 million euros, considering the Belgian request does not apply to paragraph (21) From the Security Council resolution.
