The Libyan Energy and Economic Summit opened yesterday in Tripoli with the participation of several international trade and energy officials, but the originally scheduled distinguished guests, namely the leaders of Italy and Malta, were absent.
was released following 1st Summit in 2021 the purpose According to the summit’s brochure, it aims to “unite the entire energy sector with other critical sectors of the economy with the goal of building and sustaining partnerships for energy and economic opportunity.”
The summit, held at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli from January 13 to 14, aimed to “bring international governments and the private sector to the table to advance the growth agenda and sign agreements and partnerships.” .
Among the international governments scheduled to attend were Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abella. The two leaders were scheduled to take part in the summit’s inauguration ceremony yesterday and were scheduled to deliver the opening speech alongside Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, as outlined in the summit’s program agenda.
However, none of the European leaders attended or even spoke online. It was not immediately clear why Meloni and Abela canceled their participation. There have been no statements from the governments of Libya, Italy or Malta explaining why.
Although the absence of top European leaders was a snub for the Libyan government-sponsored event, Dbeibeh nevertheless announced the participation of representatives from key European energy stakeholders, including Eni, TotalEneregies, Repsol, and Malta’s Energy Minister Miriam Dalli. succeeded in securing.
The summit will be held on the second day, and guests will participate in several panel discussions with speakers such as Rachid Hachić, CEO of Algeria’s Sonatrach and Václav Bartushka, Special Envoy for Energy Security of the Czech Republic.