TRIPOLI, Libya

Murtaza Karanfil, head of the Libyan-Turkish Businessmen Association, has called for more investments in Libya stating that a large number of government industrial facilities from previous eras are not functioning.

"Currently, there are more than 180 governmental industrial facilities from the era of previous governments that are idle in Libya," Karanfil, who is also head of the Turkish Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD), told Anadolu on Thursday.

He went on to state that some of these facilities are in good condition, which attracted the attention of Turkish businessmen.

"The state owns seven facilities in the industrial zone in Tajoura. In 1977, a facility was established to assemble and install trucks and pickup trucks here in Libya. The facility was built with the best equipment at that time," he said.

Karanfil noted that he, along with a delegation of MUSIAD from the central Turkish province of Konya, met a week ago with Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ramadan Abu Jinnah, saying: "We held special meetings with cities in the south of the country and the Southern Development Agency."

The economist said that Abu Jinnah invited the mayors of the Fezzan region to a meeting, adding that the Turkish delegation received a warm welcome and serious projects were discussed.

"We evaluated the trade route from the south to sub-Saharan Africa and other issues," he said.

He said that more than 20 mayors attended the meeting, and that the mayor of the city of Marj, east of Benghazi, said that "Libya's development will be with Türkiye."

Karanfil confirmed that they have been working in Libya for 35 years and that they have created more than 1,500 job opportunities in Türkiye, stressing that "Libya is a fertile place for investment."

"We will open a second hospital in Tripoli after Misrata. We are able to establish the Libyan health infrastructure, and we are sure that there will be important changes in terms of health, tourism and trade, and the momentum will increase if Libya and Türkiye start granting entry visas mutually," he said.

For his part, the Chief Commercial Adviser at the Turkish Embassy in Tripoli, Yusuf Yildiz, told Anadolu that they plan to organize an exhibition for exporting Turkish products in Benghazi, eastern Libya, from May 29 to June 1.

Yildiz added that about 35 companies from Türkiye will participate in the exhibition in Benghazi.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat