The Minister of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Al-Hwej, held a meeting on Wednesday with several entities affiliated with his ministry, in the presence of the Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, Saad Al-Haneish, the Undersecretary for Free Zones Affairs, Nuri Al-Gatati, the Undersecretary for Organizations and International Cooperation, Omar Al-Kutti, the heads of the General Exhibitions Authority, the Libyan Capital Market Authority, and the Director General of the Insurance Supervision Authority.
Speaking exclusively to Libya Herald, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Free Zone Affairs, Nuri Al-Gatati, stated that the meeting aims to present the plans of the bodies affiliated with the Ministry related to the development of its work and its contribution to encouraging local and foreign investments through the establishment of specialized exhibitions and the provision of the necessary insurance documents.
Restarting the Stock Market soon
The meeting also discussed the possibility of restarting trading at the Libyan Stock Market, the registration of companies, subscription to them, and the sale and purchase of their shares so that any investor has full knowledge of the financial positions of the companies listed and traded in the money market and the value of their shares.
Al-Gatati added that the Chairman of the Stock Market Authority, Mahmoud Wafa, reviewed the authority’s activity in preparing regulations. This included the regulations for credit rating activity, the commodity market and stock exchange regulations, the small and medium enterprises regulations, the investment sukuk (bonds) activity regulations, the project to classify local insurance companies, and the activation of the Islamic sukuk law.
He revealed that the Stock Market will resume its activities soon, without disclosing a specific date. This will come after the completion of the necessary arrangements by the market’s management, which is still proceeding with the processes of listing and subscribing to companies, as well as distributing the profits of some banks and companies to shareholders.
Developing the insurance market
Al-Gatati referred to the speech of Ahmed Al-Deeb, Director General of the Insurance Supervisory Authority, in which he provided explanations about the work carried out during the first quarter of 2023. This included the steps taken regarding the preparation of the project to organize and develop the insurance market and the arrangement of auxiliary insurance tools and the lending guarantee document in cooperation with the Central Bank of Libya.
Al-Gatati said that the role of insurance in revitalizing the local economic movement is very important, as it contributes greatly to building confidence in the return of foreign companies to resume several stalled projects, as well as establishing new investments.
Developing the exhibitions sector
On the Fairs Authority, Al-Gatati affirmed what was presented by the Head of the General Authority for Exhibitions, Essam Al-Oul, regarding the measures taken to develop the performance of exhibitions in the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, in addition to starting the new fairground project in Al-Saadiya area, south of the capital, Tripoli.
In this regard, Al-Gatati noted that the Ministry of Economy is following up on the ongoing work to develop the infrastructure of the exhibition grounds in the city of Tripoli. These include the establishment of new showrooms instead of the old ones, the installation of an advanced communications network, modern surveillance cameras, an integrated service centre equipped to serve exhibitors in the various exhibitions and economic activities held in the fairgrounds with implementation and maintenance of a number of service facilities.
