On 7 December, the Italian-Libyan forum titled “Crescere Insieme” (Grow Together) was held in Rome, organised by the Italian-Libyan Chamber of Commerce, with the partnership of the Embassy of Libya in Italy, Eni and Sparkle, which was attended by more than 250 Italian and Libyan entrepreneurs interested in starting a new phase of enhancing and increasing exchanges and commercial development of the two countries, especially in terms of economic and cultural relations.
The event saw the participation of important personalities such as the Libyan Ambassador, Dr. Muhannad Younes, the President of Unioncamere Libya, Dr. Mohamed Raeed, the President of the Italian-Libyan Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Nicola Colicci and representatives of MAECI and the international business world. It also saw the presence of key INSME partners Promos and Unioncamere.
For the occasion, INSME’s President, Sergio Arzeni, was also invited to give his personal contribution to the debate. He touched on some significant aspects of the economic perspective of Libya and its relations with Italy. Firstly, the President underlined how Libya, despite facing internal difficulties due to chronic political instability, has recorded positive economic growth of 3% in the last year with the same positive projection for 2024, and how it’s the African country with the third highest per capita income at $20,000. Libya is also a truly young country with a third of its population being under the age of 14.
Furthermore, Arzeni recalled the close commercial relations between the two countries which have developed a significant partnership in terms of bilateral exchanges with a significant trade volume.
Finally, the President of INSME closed his speech by illustrating the need to create a bilateral strategy based on SMEs with the aim of strengthening the partnership between Italy and Libya and developing new business opportunities by exploiting the rich and varied Libyan entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Source: INSME Secretariat
