The glittering prospect of a Libyan gold rush

To avoid the curse of oil, economic diversification is a key goal for Libya. For example, Libya has established a national tourism plan involving the construction of tourism centres and hotels as well as amelioration and protection of Libya’s coastline. The plan is worth approximately $US2.7 billion over five years and is hoped to create around 40,000 jobs. Greece recently agreed to assist preserve important sites of antiquity in Libya and other countries are involved in tourism development of Farwa Island, Elkhoms and in the environs of Tobruk. Libya sees its coastline, weather and history as the central tourism draw cards. Australia has worked diligently to protect its own tourism assets and prospects are good for professional exchange in this sector.

Steps forward

Our discussions with the Libyan Government lead us to conclude the main tasks for the future enhancement of the bilateral relationship are the rapid opening of a full embassy at Tripoli which will improve Australia’s knowledge and understanding of Libya and its economic aspirations and needs. A main task will be to reduce the costs of commerce between Libya and Australia through reductions in trade regulation, a more secure legal environment and smoother, faster financial transactions and improved communications and transport links.

There can be an expansion of Libya’s access to Australian education services. (There are at present about 80 Libyan Government fully-funded under and post-graduate students in Australia. Companies such as Woodside are adding to this in-flow.)

Outside government, but helped by it, there can be a growth in people-to-people links and a deliberate program of bilateral visits which in the short-term could ameliorate gaps in understanding and information about capacity and intention of our respective governments and add to the range of Australians and Libyans with direct experience of the other's country.

A direct and visible visits program between Australia and Libya would be well received in Tripoli. This might usefully include senior experts in media, in particular journalists, to see Australia and report in Libya and vice versa, along with technical specialists from the building and construction of public infrastructure; environmental protection and resource management consultants for coastal zones; tourism; and agriculture to suit current interests. In the medium term there is place for global energy market analysts, agricultural production science advisers for seeds, reafforestation, animal and plant breeding and GIS/remote sensing.

Libya, no longer a proliferation risk, has a legitimate call on Australia’s commercial and government experts in defence equipment and training. It has signed accords with EU states to control illegal people movements, transfer of terrorist suspects, and it actively contributes to mediation in tensions between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines in Mindanao. Libya has prospects for engagement with our government on systems to develop e-commerce, computer records and methods to track and combat people smuggling,which is grave concern to the EU.

For an Australia with a hearty budget surplus, the steps to beat the opposition into Libya are not overly costly. It requires a fresh analysis, a government-based strategy and a medium-term perspective, quite unlike the long-term efforts required in developing the China market for non-resource based value-added goods and services.