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The Chairman of the Libyan Post Telecommunications and Information Company (LPTIC), Libyas telecommunications holding company that controls all state telecoms sector, Mohamed Ben Ayad, signed an agreement to connect Italy with Libya through a submarine cable. The agreement is part of LPTICs 2025 vision to make Libya a major digital gateway in the world.

Commenting to Libya Herald on the agreement, the Director of LPTICs Media Office, Osama Al-Shaibani, said, The signing comes as part of the visit of the government delegation headed by the head of the Government of National Unity, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, to the Italian capital, Rome, and within the framework of the conclusion of a number of development and partnership agreements between the two countries.

Al-Shaibani said that LPTIC is working on developing the communications infrastructure locally and internationally, in cooperation with major international companies, which contribute to increasing the quality and speed of services provided by its subsidiaries.

The Tripoli-Mazara cable He said that Libya and Italy are connected to the Tripoli-Mazara cable, which is 570 km long and is owned by the Libyan International Telecom Company, a subsidiary of the LPTIC with the Italian Telecom Company Sparkle (TIS). This cable connects Libya to the European continent via Sicily / Italy with a capacity of 340 Gb / s.

The Silphium cable It is worth noting that Libya is also connected to the European continent through the international submarine cable Silphium, which is the first international submarine cable 100 percent owned by Libya and connects the eastern region to the world. It was launched in June 2012 with a length of 425 km and an initial capacity of 70 gigabits per second up to 1.2 Tbps. These capacities are currently being upgraded to 370 Gbps.

The Silphium cable connects the city of Derna to the city of Chania on the island of Crete in Greece. The international submarine cable Silphium was unique when it was established as the longest submarine cable in the world with the technology of not using signal re-strengthening equipment.

The Libyan International Telecoms Company completes Silphium submarine cable project linking Libya with Greece (libyaherald.com)

Libyan PM Aldabaiba leads high level ministerial delegation to Rome: multi-sector MoUs signed (libyaherald.com)

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Agreement signed to link Italy with Libya through a submarine cable - Libya Herald

Expertise France published last Thursday the top 20 reforms guide to improving the business environment in Libya.

The guide contains the most critical and urgent 20 economic reforms based on a large survey in which more than 600 Libyan companies participated, Expertise France reported.

Here are the top 20 business reforms needed in Libya:

Expertise France implements training for Digital Lab team (libyaherald.com)

Expertise France to implement new 700,000 Raqameyon digitalisation project (libyaherald.com)

A workshop on free zones organized by Expertise France was held in Tunis 21 to 22 February (libyaherald.com)

Expertise France holds workshop for Libyan Tax Authority on digitising its services (libyaherald.com)

CBL meets Expertise France discusses Fintech, credit bureau and microfinance (libyaherald.com)

Sahary Bank and Expertise France discuss establishing SME financing units (libyaherald.com)

Expertise France to support Libyas promotion of industrial sector (libyaherald.com)

Expertise France hails its five diversification projects in Libya (libyaherald.com)

Expertise France and UNICEF to help Libyan youth in entrepreneurship (libyaherald.com)

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Expertise France publishes top 20 reforms guide to improving the ... - Libya Herald

BEIRUT (AP) Seeking to find lives better than they had in their war-scarred town in northeast Syria, four men and a 14-year-old boy from the Sheikhi family set out for Europe.

Ignoring an older relatives warnings, the group boarded a fishing boat from Libya to Italy, where they hoped to start crossing Europe on land and get to Germany.

Instead of docking in Italy, the trawler capsized and sank Wednesday in thousands of feet of seawater, 75 kilometers (45 miles) off Greece. The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers. Hundreds remained missing early Friday, on the third and final day of search operations. It would be one of the worst Mediterranean shipwrecks in recent history if officials confirm relatives worst fears, as expected.

Five members of one family were aboard the trawler, including Ali Sheikhi, 29. The father of three boys, he left behind his wife, and boys ages 6, 5 and 2 hoping to one day reunite in Europe and offer the children the good education no longer found at home.

He wanted to save his children, said Abdo Sheikhi, 38, Alis brother.

Abdo Sheikhi reached Germany seven years ago. His five relatives left Kobani, a border town near Turkey, in early March.

Once a symbol of victory against Islamic State militants in 2015, Kobani has been hit by the countrys bitter divisions, and over a decade of war, like much of Syria. With no development, no investment and no sign of peace, many in northeastern Syria are following the footsteps of earlier migrants to Europe but taking much higher risks because Turkey has been tightening its borders and making the land crossing harder.

Many of the Syrians missing were also from Daraa, a region in Syrias southernmost tip, near the border with Jordan.

Abdo Sheikhis five relatives went through government-controlled Syria into Lebanon. They then flew to Cairo and from there to Tripoli and on land to Tobruk, Libya. Aside from the expenses paid to reach Libya, the five were supposed to pay $6,000 each to the smugglers, money that was to be paid once they reached Italy.

They were supposed to arrive in three or four days, Mohamed Abdi Marwan, an uncle, said speaking by phone from Kobani, a Kurdish-majority town. It was a shock. We had hoped they will get there safely.

Nine survivors were arrested Thursday on suspicion of being members of the ring that arranged the voyage, the Greek coast guard said. State-run ERT TV said the suspects were all Egyptian nationals.

In Syria, there are no means for a life, Abdo Sheikhi said. Once they decided, I told them the Libya road is very dangerous and very long. They said: others made it. We too will take that road.

Shahin, another relative of Sheikhis, who is also a resident of Germany, said he last heard from his relative when he complained about the conditions in waiting in Libya for months. The smugglers wouldnt let them leave the rooms where they were, ostensibly to avoid detection, often confiscated their phones, and would not bring them the food they requested.

They were seven to a room ... They didnt see the sun, said Shahin, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to not jeopardize his ability to stay in Germany. They were sad and gripped by despair. But they would not take a decision to go back to Syria.

The men from the Sheikhi family texted relatives late last Thursday to say they would leave in a few hours, on a boat that was supposed to carry 300 people, said the elder Sheikhi.

The family waited for a confirmation photo from Italy. None came.

The (smugglers) sent the boys to their deaths, Abdo Sheikhi said.

Hours after rescue operations began, a member of the Sheikhi family thought he spotted Ali in a photo of survivors posted on social media. The man was laying on the floor in a line of others wrapped in blankets in the makeshift camp set up for the passengers. His hand was raised, covering most of his face, except for a distinctive beard. Then came another picture of a man uncovered and sitting up, holding a piece of paper.

There was no sign of other relatives and no way to reach the man on the floor to confirm it is Ali.

The elder Sheikhi, working as an electrician in Germany, said he has called the hospital in Greece to try to get information, with no luck. He was unable to get news from the makeshift camp and is still weighing whether to travel to Greece to look for relatives.

Abdo Sheikhi said the trip to Greece will cost him at least 600 euros and he cant speak English.

I will wait till tomorrow. If there are no news, I will have to go, he said. The problem will be if I go there and it is of no use.

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Relatives fear worst with four men and a boy missing after ... - The Associated Press

Murtaza Karanfil, the chairperson of the Foreign Economic Relations Board's (DEK) Trkiye-Libya Business Council has called for more investments in Libya stating that a large number of government industrial facilities from previous eras are not functioning.

"Currently, there are over 180 governmental industrial facilities from the era of previous governments that are idle in Libya," Karanfil told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday.

He went on to state that some of these facilities are in good condition, which attracted the attention of Turkish businesspeople.

"The state owns seven facilities in the industrial zone in Tajoura. In 1977, a facility was established to assemble and install trucks and pickup trucks here in Libya. The facility was built with the best equipment at that time," he said.

Karanfil noted that he, along with a delegation of Independent Industrialists and Businessmens Association (MSAD) from the central Turkish province of Konya, met a week ago with Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ramadan Abu Jinnah, saying: "We held special meetings with cities in the country's south and the Southern Development Agency."

Karanfil said that Abu Jinnah invited the mayors of the Fezzan region to a meeting, adding that the Turkish delegation received a warm welcome and serious projects were discussed.

"We evaluated the trade route from the south to sub-Saharan Africa and other issues," he said.

He said that over 20 mayors attended the meeting and that the mayor of the city of Marj, east of Benghazi, said that "Libya's development will be with Trkiye."

Karanfil confirmed that they have been working in Libya for 35 years and that they have created over 1,500 job opportunities in Trkiye, stressing that "Libya is a fertile place for investment."

"We will open a second hospital in Tripoli after Misrata. We are able to establish the Libyan health infrastructure, and we are sure that there will be important changes in terms of health, tourism and trade, and the momentum will increase if Libya and Trkiye start granting entry visas mutually," he said.

Chief Commercial Adviser at the Turkish Embassy in Tripoli, Yusuf Yldz also told AA that they plan to organize an exhibition for exporting Turkish products in Benghazi, eastern Libya, from May 29 to June 1.

Yldz added that about 35 companies from Trkiye will participate in the exhibition in Benghazi.

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'Libya needs more investment by Turkish firms' | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

TRIPOLI

Libyas eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to replace Fathi Bashagha as prime minister amid signs of shifting alliances in Libyas political moving sands.

The parliament replaced Bashagha with his finance minister Osama Hamad, parliament spokesman Abdullah Belhaiq said.

The decision was announced a few hours after Bashagha published his resignation and designated his deputy, Ali al-Qatrani, to assume his duties.

The parliament said Bashagha will now face an investigation but did not specify the charges that could be brought against him.

Bashagha remained silent while reports circulated about disagreements between him and a number of MPs on financial issues.

Bashagha is said to have written to the parliament earlier on Tuesday saying he was handing his duties over to Qatrani, without saying whether or when he planned to resume this activities. A source close to him claimed Bashagha was taking a personal leave.

In March of last year, Bashagha had taken the oath of office before parliament and began exercising his duties from Sirte after being tasked with forming a new government.

Parliament intended Bashagha to replace Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah after deciding that the Tripoli-based premiers term in office had ended. But Dbeibah refused to step down saying that he would hand over power only to an elected government.

Although backed by parliament and the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, Bashagha lacked real powers.

His governments margin of manoeuvre was in particular limited by budget constraints. Bashagha said in January that the Libyan Central Bank allocated to his cabinet only about 330 million US dollars.

Analysts believe a row subsequently erupted between Bashagha and members of parliament over the financial issue. According to MP Issam al-Jahani the decision to remove Bashagha was triggered by the parliamentarians belief that he failed to fulfill any of expectations that underlied his appointment in the first place.

Bashaghas alliance with the authorities in the east led to the serious atrophy of his support base in the western region. Many people there considered his reconciliation with Haftar and Speaker of Parliament Aguila Saleh a betrayal of the martyrs as they referred to those killed in battles fought by the LNA against militias and militant groups in Benghazi and Tripoli.

Observers at the time thought Haftar and Saleh used Bashagha as a pressure card against Dbeibah to reap certain benefits, such as the removal of Mustafa Sanallah from his position as head of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and his replacement by former central bank governor Farhat Bengdara, as part of a deal between Haftar and Dbeibah that included the payment of the armys debts.

Increasingly, it became clear that Bashaghas mission had ended, from the perspective of Haftar and Aguila Saleh. It will be difficult now for Bashagha, however, to return to the political scene after having burnt all his bridges with former allies in the western region.

Cairo meeting

Over the last few days, Rumours have circulated about Bashagha joining the Dbeibah camp. But such rumours were discounted after the emergence of reports about a forthcoming meeting in Cairo between representatives of Dbeibah and Haftar.

According to these reports, a meeting will be held in Cairo between security and military leaders from the western region and others from the eastern part of the country, including Saddam Haftar (Haftars son) and his brother Belkasim as well as MP Hatem Al-Araibi, and Osama Hamad, who is now assuming the previous duties of Bashagha.

The Cairo meeting is expected to discuss the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Dbeibah government that will include the appointment of new cabinet ministers in such portfolios as finance, foreign affairs, the interior and defence.

The reports about the Cairo meeting seem to have irked the State Council chairman Khaled Al-Mishri who virulently criticised the Parliaments decision to dismiss Fathi Bashagha.

He said on Twitter that the parliaments move to replace Bashagha is a political absurdity and took place in suspicious circumstances.

Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gadhafi. Moreover, it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions, though major fighting has been paused since a ceasefire in 2020.

Dbeibahs government was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021 that was aimed at holding elections that year, but the vote was cancelled amid disputes over the rules.

Diplomacy is now focused on bringing the parliament and a consultative body, the State Council, to agree on rules that would allow an election to take place.

However, senior figures in the parliament have pushed for a new interim government before any election, a move their opponents see as a delaying tactic to put off a vote and hang onto their positions.

Link:
Bashagha removed by eastern-based parliament amid Libya's shifting sands | | AW - The Arab Weekly