Libya seeks investment boost with Turkish deals

Turkey and Libya signed a string of cooperation deals ranging from health to education and construction as Turkey’s prime minister ended a three-day visit to Tripoli, officials said.

Most of the agreements aim to boost investment and trade as Libya, emerging from years of isolation due to sanctions, tries to upgrade infrastructure, improve public services and secure food supplies for its growing population.

Libyan officials have also said they want their country to be a commercial bridge to Africa. Wednesday’s deals would see the two Mediterranean countries cooperate in health, education and construction across the continent.

Under six memoranda of understanding signed in Tripoli on Wednesday, Libya and Turkey will team up in transport, banking and farming and their state investment agencies will work together on joint projects.

Two other deals were signed to scrap travel visa requirements and to encourage and secure investment, officials said.

“Libyan-Turkish relations have entered a new period of economic and commercial cooperation,” said Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi during the signing ceremony.

He said the two countries aimed to double trade in coming years and contracts signed with Turkish companies were worth around $10 billion.

On Tuesday, Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan unveiled plans for a jointly-owned agriculture investment bank with capital of $1 billion that will spur Libyan efforts to secure food supplies.

Turkish officials also said they wanted to source more of their country’s oil supplies directly from OPEC member Libya.