A large delegation of French businessmen arrived in Benghazi, in eastern Libya. On November 26 and 27, the port city, de facto capital of the dissident executive that governs the eastern and northern regions of the country, under the supervision of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, hosts the Libya-France forum for development and reconstruction.
Organized by the Libyan Development and Reconstruction Fund with the help of French diplomacy and Business France, a public body responsible for the economic promotion of France internationally, the event “aims to strengthen the links of collaboration and economic and technical association between Libyan and French companies and institutions”according to information communicated by the organizers.
In total, twenty-eight French companies – including Airbus Helicopters, Matière, specialized in construction, or Medis, in healthcare software – are represented along with their Libyan counterparts, from the sectors “education, telecommunications, infrastructure, health, investment, transportation and agriculture”. Libya, which became Africa’s main oil producer in March and has the largest proven reserves on the continent, “it remains, despite its particularities, a land of opportunities and its market contains considerable potential, often underestimated”adds the French ambassador in Tripoli, Mostafa Mihraje, in a message distributed by the organization of the forum. “The experience of French companies is expected”he assures.
Since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, by a popular revolt supported by a NATO military intervention led by France, Libya has been devastated by several episodes of civil war. The country’s infrastructure has been severely damaged by the intense fighting. Thanks to relative stabilization since the ceasefire agreement, signed in October 2020 between Marshal Haftar’s forces and the internationally recognized government in Tripoli and defended by a coalition of local militias, the country entered a phase of reconstruction.
Numerous public works contracts
In the east of the country, this dynamic has a name and a face: that of Belgacem Haftar. Son of Marshal Haftar and an engineer by training, he was promoted in early 2024 to the direction of the Development and Reconstruction Fund. The institution, initially founded after the catastrophic floods that devastated the city of Derna, in September 2023, to support the regions affected by the catastrophe before its prerogatives were extended to the entire territory, within the limits of the areas controlled by The Libyan National Army was endowed with a portfolio of 10 billion Libyan dinars (around 1.9 billion euros) by the Benghazi Parliament. Since then, the Fund has awarded numerous contracts for public works projects, the first projects of which (new bridges, new hospital in Derna, schools, etc.) have already been completed.
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