NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor on an official visit to Libya

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia is currently on a two-day visit to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Libya), which he began with a meeting with the Prime Minister of Libya, Dr El Baghdadi Ali El Mahmoudi. On this occasion, the Slovenian Prime Minister is accompanied by the Minister of the Economy, Dr Matej Lahovnik; the Minister of Transport, Dr Patrick Vlačič; and a strong business delegation, since the talks will mainly be centred on strengthening comprehensive, particularly economic cooperation between Slovenia and Libya.
  

(Foto: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 
In his statement to the press after the meeting, Prime Minister Pahor first thanked the Libyan Prime Minister for the reception and expressed his satisfaction with the successful talks devoted primarily to strengthening cooperation between Slovenia and Libya in the area of construction, energy (petroleum and natural gas), telecommunications, pharmacy, agriculture, drinking water supply, tourism and many other areas.  The prime ministers agreed that the presence of Slovenian companies in Libya could be increased, especially in construction, because Libya plans numerous infrastructure projects in the field of road connections.  In this context, the Slovenian Prime Minister stressed that last year the trade between the two countries reached 150 million euros and that Slovenia should take advantage of the favourable attitude to Slovenian companies on the part of the Libyan Government, since this number could be 10 times higher in the following years.
  

(Foto: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 
In his statement to the press, Prime Minister El Baghdadi Ali El Mahmoudi also announced the setting up of a business club which will define and be in charge of cooperation between the two countries.
 
He further noted that soon the ministers of transport of both countries, Patrick Vlačič and Muhammad Ali Zidane, will meet and sign a transport agreement.
 
Both prime ministers also focused their talks on topical international issues, among them the role of Slovenia in the European Union and the role of Libya in the African Union, and the situation in the Middle East and the Balkans.    They also touched upon issues of eventual reform of the United Nations, and Prime Minister Pahor said that Slovenia supports UN reform in the sense that non-permanent members of the UN Security Council should play a more important role.  He also expressed his hope that the Libyans would support Slovenia's candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2014.
 

(Foto: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 
Tomorrow, the Slovenian Prime Minister will attend the Slovenian-Libyan business conference where he will address the participating business people.  He will also lay flowers at the monument to fallen Libyans during the Italian occupation, the monument to fallen Libyans during the US attack in 1986 and to the monument to the father of the Libyan Brotherly Leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi.