Benghazi, the new jewel of the Mediterranean
In the city of Benghazi, visitors are witness to the prevailing security in the east, north and south of the country, more than 80% of Libyan territory, under the authority of the parliament following the elections, the government of Osama Hammad and the Libyan National Army under the command of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, as well as the enthusiasm and desire for recovery of the Libyan people.
Security and stability
The work of international experts (including a group of Spanish military personnel) is helping, today, in the training of units of the Libyan National Army, so that the control of illegal immigration is now over 60%, drug trafficking is not rife, young people are undertaking their studies in elite universities and, most importantly: that the terrorism of Daesh and al-Qaeda be eradicated, thanks to the work carried out by its Armed Forces, under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Currently, the threat of terrorist groups, which try to operate from countries with its southern border, was the protagonist of the last attack in Tripoli: the assassination attempt on Minister Adel Jomaa on 12 February this year.
During the last war, terrorist acts devastated critical infrastructures: bridges, schools, hotels, universities and large buildings, not to mention the fact that hospital capacity fell from 3,000 to 600 beds.
National reconstruction fund
For the mayor of Benghazi, Alsaquer Emran Abojwary, the security parameter is the preliminary step to influencing the infrastructure of the tourism sector and publicising the list of emblematic cities declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO: Shahad, Souss Lybia, Loubda, Soubrata and Ghdmass. ‘We are preparing the Benghazi coast to receive the flow of tourists, an attractive area for the businessman’. ”.
The mayor has announced that work on the new airport to the west of Benghazi is 23% complete, with more than 20,000 hectares of connectivity between cities and with the forecast of accommodating a flow of 5 million passengers per year.
‘We are trying to make this airport the most important in North Africa. We are in the first phase of development, both in terms of building hotel chains and in terms of calculating routes and good roads that will allow for accommodation and quick travel for visitors’.
Thanks to the national reconstruction fund, the Benghazi uprising will last for about two more years. Barcelona could serve as inspiration for the mayor's office in the design of their own city, albeit with its own hallmark.
Tourism investments
For the mayor of Benghazi, the whole government is working on security, the re-establishment of the country and the fine-tuning of the selection of top-quality hotels, along with luxurious resorts for business trips or holiday getaways.
Libya has spectacular tourist enclaves, such as Cyrene, an ancient Greek colony located in what is now known as Shahhat, the gateway to the Green Mountains and the desert. ‘But we need to get the country back on its feet before we can implement projects in this area. The city has to be attractive, first for people to live in and then for tourists,’ explains Alsaquer Emran Abojwary.
The frantic pace of the reconstruction work lasts 24 hours a day. There are sufficient resources for the whole country to live in prosperity. The city is constantly on the move. The implementation of an entire strategic rebuilding plan, scheduled to last between two and five years, is not only allowing all sectors of the economy to take off, but is also helping to foster social cohesion.
Benghazi is an exceptional enclave that will soon attract all tourist investment. An elaborate plan, with its own identity, that will make Benghazi a new Sultanate of Oman, with low-rise, brightly coloured housing, a region that will attract investors and tourists.
The latest United Nations reports show that the Presidency of the House of Representatives has made public the decision to appoint the Board of Directors of the Central Bank and the Board as a whole held its first meeting on 10 November.
International recognition
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Abdul Hadi Al-Hawaij, a key figure in a new diplomatic identity, is creating friendship groups and consensual agreements between parliamentarians, while at the same time giving a large space to the foreign business community. ‘We are preparing the infrastructure for a giant project in Libya, open to any investor’.
The minister emphasises that commercial ties do not have to wait for political decisions. ‘Our government belongs to the Mediterranean basin, a space for peace’. ‘Italy, to give an example, works with both administrations’, the minister continues, ‘and is one of the best business interlocutors between Tripoli and Benghazi’. The Foreign Minister urges the government of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez to create a consular office in Benghazi and to be part of its development and growth.
It is common knowledge that Libya is divided into two governments since the end of the war in 2011: the Government of National Unity (GNU) recognised by the United Nations and the international community, which controls the west of the country. The east and part of the south, some 80% of the territory, including the oil wells, are under the control of the Libyan Parliament and the government led by Osama Hammad.
Putting an end to the current division and moving forward together, in national reconciliation, is a goal alluded to by the Libyan Foreign Minister, with the interests of its citizens taking precedence over everything else: ‘We have made you, peoples and tribes, so that you may know one another,’ reads one of the verses of the Quran, mentioned by Dr Abdul Hadi Al-Hawaij.
Carmen Chamorro. Board member of CIP/ACPE and graduate in International Relations and Business Tourism from the SEI
Article published in TourismandSociety think tank; el Mundo Financiero and Express news