The American Chamber of Commerce in Libya (AmCham Libya) and AmCham Member, Hill International, hosted a reception of major U.S. companies last Saturday (26 April) in honour of Khalifa Abdel Sadeg, Tripoli based Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, and his high-level accompanying governmental delegation.
The event came during the Libyan government delegation’s visit to Washington, D.C. to attend the World Bank/IMF Annual Spring meetings 2025. Additional sponsors included AmCham Members AVSCO and Cornerstone Valve.
Special guests included U.S. Special Envoy to Libya, Ambassador Richard Norland, as well as representatives from the State Department, Commerce Department and Department of Energy.
At the event, AmCham Libya reported to Libya Herald, participating companies had the opportunity to introduce and present themselves to the visiting delegation, as well as have one-to-one meetings with Minister Abdel Sadeg. Senior level representatives from the Prime Minister’s office and the Ministry of Economy addressed the participants and gave updates on the current situation in Libya and the opportunities available for U.S. companies.
Participating U.S. companies included Honeywell, Jones Group International, The Shaw Group, Freedom First, Visual Technologies, AVSCO, Cornerstone Valve, S. MedSea Motors (distributors for Stellantis and Kenworth), Yamasaki, Motorola Solutions and the Houston office of the National Oil Corporation.
Debbie Hirst, AmCham Libya President said, “We were honoured to host an event that brought together senior Libyan government stakeholders with U.S. companies interested in engaging more robustly with Libya. It was a pleasure to hear Ambassador Norland say that the U.S. government is prioritising commercial engagement with Libya. That is our mission, and we think the current administration’s priorities are aligned with ours.”
Raouf Ghali, CEO of Hill International, said, “We are happy to host this reception for our dear friends from Libya and welcomed the significant representation from the U.S. government. Hill has a decades-long history in Libya, and we believe in the strength of the country. That is why we never left, even though many other companies did. We recognise the challenges Libya faces today but we believe the future is bright. U.S. companies like Hill can help deliver this future, and we look forward to assisting the people of Libya to achieve it.”
NK Gupta, President of AVSCO, said, “AVSCO and Cornerstone Valve have been involved with Libya since before the 2011 Revolution. There were some quiet years since then, but recently we are really excited about what we see. We are looking at major investments this year, including an international-standard valve repair facility in Sebha. Events like this reception are a great opportunity to have direct conversations with senior Libyan decision makers and we were happy to be a sponsor.”
Ryan Manicom, CEO of Freedom First said, “There is so much US experience in the oil sector that can benefit Libya, and it is one of the missions of Freedom First to bring this to the Libyan people. We were happy to come to this reception to have another chance to discuss our initiatives with Dr. Khalifa Abdel Sadeg.”
It will also be recalled that AmCham Libya recently brought 18 US companies to the Libya Energy & Economic Summit in Tripoli in January 2025 and is planning a similar programme for the 2026 event.
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