A week has gone by since our landmark event in Washington DC, which has given us some time to reflect on what happened.
In summary, AmCham organized a commercial event for a visiting delegation of senior representatives from the Libyan government. Visiting Libyan officials included:
- Minister of Oil and Gas, Dr. Khalifa Rajab Abdulsadek
- Chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority, Ali Mahmoud
- Acting Minister of Health, Mohamed Alghoj
- Undersecretary of Ministry of Economy, Dr. Suhail Abu Shiha
- Chairman of the ICT Authority, Abdulbaset Albaour
- Chairman of the Libyan Mining Corporation, Frag Alshandouli
- GM of the General Electricity Company of Libya, Abdullah Hamoudah
- Chairman of the Renewable Energy Authority, Asiel Artaima
- DG of the Administrative Centers Development Authority, Sami Elabesh
Several senior representatives from the U.S. Government were also present, including:
- Senior Advisor to the President, Dr. Massad Boulos
- Department of State, Office Director for North Africa, Faris Asad
- Department of Energy, Director, Office of African and Middle Eastern Affairs, Daniel Mahanty
- U.S Department of Commerce, Energy Expert Rorey Hughes
- USTDA, Regional Director for MENA-EE, Carl Kress
The visiting companies participated in a series of roundtables covering the industries of Oil & Gas, Electricity, Renewables, Minerals, IT, Healthcare and Infrastructure.
We believe it was the largest ever group of senior Libyan Government officials in the US, and probably anywhere in one place.
The Libyan delegation had spent the week in DC in various other meetings with US Government counterparts, and our event was the closing celebration to the week.
The US Government supported it robustly, including with the presence of Dr. Massad Boulos, Senior Advisor to President Trump. The companies that attended found it productive, and the Libyan officials were grateful for the opportunity.
This event would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors: Hill International (Main Sponsor), Alfa Healthcare, GardaWorld, NAPMICO and Zahaf & Partners.
Takeaways from the event include:
- The Libyan Government considers engagement with the U.S. to be a priority. We, as AmCham, are honoured by this, and work every day to help support US company involvement in Libya. We see some concrete steps being taken in a positive direction and will be following up with other events and advocacy in the future.
- The Trump Administration values commercial engagement. Libya has a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of this because there are so many sectors in Libya that can benefit from the involvement of US companies. However, as we said in our opening remarks at the event, the situation is not perfect now, and we all need to work hard for Libya to achieve its potential. The presence of Dr. Boulos at our event was an important signal from the US Government. Now Libya needs to do what’s necessary in order to further develop a welcoming business environment for US companies.
- Some of the greatest US companies attended this event. That also sends an important message to Libya. Companies are ready and willing to engage in order to help Libya fulfil its development goals. However, there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the way by the Libyans. AmCham looks forward to seeing this and helping in any way that it can.
.
US$ 71 billion investments proposed in Libyan American Partnership Washington DC business meeting
Libyan government delegation holds further meetings in DC, discusses activating TIFA
Largest-ever Libyan government delegation to visit Washington first week of September
