Washington, DC — A ten-company business delegation, including such corporate giants as Raytheon, DaimlerChrysler, NorthropGrumman, Motorola and Fluor, completed the first non-oil U.S. business delegation to Libya in more than 17 years. Smaller companies such as Seattle-based Freightliner, Dallas-based Bell Helicopter, and J.D. Stark & Associates, a U.S. agricultural company based in Panama, also participated. The four-day mission was under the auspices of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the trade association of U.S. companies operating in Africa, and was led by U.S. Ambassador (ret) Mark Parris, who chairs the Corporate Council's working group on Libya. The delegation returned from Libya yesterday (August 5).
"This program was very successful," said Parris. It was important that the Libyans, as well as American business, understand that the opening of the Libyan market to America represents far more than only oil interests. Libyans are eager for American products of all kinds. The country represents great opportunity for American business and its work force."
Ambassador Parris stated that he thought that several of the businesses represented on the delegation would likely see new business in Libya in the near future as a result of this delegation visit. Parris noted that CCA had worked very closely with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce in preparing for the program, and worked hand-in-hand throughout the three-day visit with the U.S. interest section now operating in Tripoli.
Ambassador Parris said that assuming the process that the two sides have agreed to reaches fruition, people of both countries will be the beneficiaries. We need to be realistic, he said. There are now and there will likely be in the future things on which Americans and Libyans will differ. The past cant be forgotten. But it shouldnt keep us from moving forward on the basis of mutual interest as we see the key issues which have divided us being addressed in good faith.
Stephen Hayes, President and Executive Director of the Corporate Council on Africa, who also participated in the delegation, noted that that although there are still some products that cannot be sold to the Libyan market until all U.S. sanctions are lifted, there exists great opportunity for U.S. business, perhaps especially so for small and medium-sized businesses. "Libyan citizens are hungry for U.S. products of all sorts, from agriculture to automobiles. The sooner all U.S. business can enter into the Libyan marketplace, the better for the workforce in our own nation. Right now is the best time to engage the Libyan economy."
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The delegation met with key Libyan ministers and each company representative had a series of private meetings with government and private sector officials related to their specific interests. The visit also included a mini-conference with about 100 members of the Libyan business community, convened by the Libyan Businessmen's Council, a new Libyan organization. It is only in the past year that private business has been allowed to return to the Libyan economic plan. "Leadership in Libya," said Hayes, "recognizes that it made a critical mistake by eliminating the private sector for the past three decades. There is now greater unemployment among a restive younger workforce. The government cannot employ all its people. Private business must be the engine of economic growth in Libya, as it is in the rest of the world."
Ambassador Parris said he believed a new relationship between the United States and Libya, especially one based on mutual needs, could be in the best interests of both nations. The visit was a concrete demonstration to the Libyans that, as they work through the step-by-step approach on which the U.S. and Libyan governments have agreed, the American private sector will be not just supportive, but enthusiastic.
Hayes noted that CCA is developing a plan to follow up the success of this important first step. The Washington, D.C.-based organization is a membership organization of almost 200 American companies, representing approximately eighty percent of all U.S. private investment in Africa. Its mission is to increase trade between the United States and African nations.
