 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Taking a trip to Tripoli
By Samia NkrumahLast week Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini became the first high-ranking Western official to visit Libya just a day after the air travel ban on Libya was suspended following the handover of the two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing.
The foreign minister's expeditious visit to Tripoli was yet another opportunity for Italy, which sees itself as subject to pressure from the US, to demonstrate its ability to conceive and operate a foreign policy independently of Washington.
Nor should Italy's latest gesture towards Tripoli be viewed in isolation. Only last month, Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema received Iranian President Mohamed Khatami on the latter's first and much-publicised visit to a Western nation. And there is Italy's current grudging support of the NATO raids on Yugoslavia to be taken into account as well.
Three years under centre-left governments have given those unwilling to tow the line dictated by the US an opportunity to make their voice heard. Italy has sought to define a policy approach that prioritises political and economic stability in countries that are geographically close, particularly those on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.
Dini, who met with Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi for an hour and a half in Sibha, 700 km south of Tripoli, confirmed that Italy has invited Libya to participate in the Euro-Mediterranean meetings to be held on 15 April in Stuttgart, as a first step towards Libya becoming a full member of the Euro-Med process. The Euro-Med partnership was set up in Barcelona in 1995 to try and establish a free trade zone covering Europe and the Mediterranean area by the year 2010, and to bolster security and stability in the area. However, due to UN sanctions, Libya has so far been excluded from this dialogue.
Dini greeted by Gaddafi during his visit to Libya last week (photo: AP)
"Today Libya is on the verge of being re-admitted to the international community and Italy will do all it can towards achieving this end. Italy will work with Libya to bring greater stability to the Mediterranean," Dini said in Tripoli.
he Italians have always kept up contact with Libya, a former colony, even when relations were officially poor. Dialogue between the two countries was hardly ever interrupted. A few years ago, direct diplomatic relations between Libya and the Vatican were established as a result of Italian initiatives.
Even before the handover of the two Libyan suspects last week, bilateral relations between Italy and Libya were being cultivated. Last July, Dini's Libyan counterpart, Foreign Minister Omar Mustafa Al-Muntassar, visited Rome where the two sides settled a number of long-standing points of contention between their countries, including damage claims and arrangements for clearing mines laid by Italian soldiers before Libya's independence.
"The joint communiqué of last July allowed us to leave behind all the disagreements of the past. This communiqué will form the basis of our future relationship," Dini declared during his visit to Libya.
The high-level exchange of visits is simply one part of an extensive series of moves through which Italy is seeking to bring Libya back into the fold of the international community.
Rome served as mediator between Libya on the one hand, and the US and Britain on the other, after diplomatic relations were broken off between the two sides, with Italy handling Britain's interests in Tripoli. Italy also provided the UN with the jet which brought the two Libyan suspects to the Netherlands.
Some believe that the Italian foreign minister's visit to Tripoli is simply a smart way of doing business. It is a well-known fact that Italy has considerable economic interests in Libya, a country with vast oil and gas reserves that is also conveniently situated close to European markets. In this context, Dini's visit can be seen as a very logical step towards the re-establishment of commercial ties.
Italy is one of Libya's most important trading partners, while Italy in turn is largely dependent on Libyan oil, which contributes thirty-one per cent of the country's energy supplies. Italians prefer the high quality Libyan crude with its low-sulphur content to alternative sources. Italian oil company ENI produces 500,000 barrels daily in Libya, where it is the principal international energy operator.
Italy is also hoping to create a direct link with Libya via Sicily, in the form of a huge $3.8 billion gas pipeline, whose construction would create 10,000 jobs for three years.
UN sanctions against Libya also hit Italian industry hard, as the country exports a considerable amount of drilling equipment and spare parts to its former colony. In addition, Libya has long held a 10 per cent stake in Italy's state-controlled Fiat car company, while Banco di Roma in turn has substantial Libyan interests.
Italian companies are not the only ones who have been waiting anxiously for the sanctions to be lifted. The West as a whole has been unable to disguise its interest in Libya's oil and gas reserves. Vast investment opportunities await companies worldwide once sanctions have been fully lifted in three months time. British Aerospace, for instance, have been holding talks with Libya for many months now, in the hope of closing a deal that would involve both selling planes to Libya and rebuilding Tripoli airport.
Libya is meanwhile looking into how to develop its tourism sector, in light of the major growth in the industry worldwide, and huge investments are anticipated in this area too. Nevertheless, most European companies are not rushing to do business with Libya without a high-profile political engagement -- at least, not just yet.
Indeed, Dini's visit appeared to come too soon for the Maltese authorities, who continued to obey the article in the recently suspended UN restrictions that banned all international flights, and accordingly forbade the Falcon 900 carrying the foreign minister from flying through their air space.
And so it seems that the Italians may have a slight edge on the rest of Europe. They clearly hope to benefit from having been the first to create a political climate favourable to their business interests in Libya. As Foreign Minister Dini commented on his return to Rome: "I didn't go to Libya to do business, but to strengthen political ties. We didn't talk about gas or oil -- but Italy will certainly be a country which will have a privileged relationship with Tripoli, as Gaddafi himself said, in the light of the contribution that we have always provided."
