Libya to require Tunisian skills for reconstruction

An official of the Libyan National Transition Council (NTC) said the Tunisian skills will be needed in the reconstruction of war-hit Libya, Tunisia's official press agency TAP reported Saturday. "Libya will require the Tunisian skills to rebuild the country, " said NTC member Walid Burshane during a meeting in Tunis with Wided Bouchamaoui, head of the Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts (UTICA). The Libyan official suggested setting up a strategy aiming to build a "rich and diversified partnership between the two countries." A visit by Tunisian businessmen to Libya is due to take place soon, and meetings between Tunisian and Libyan officials are expected in the following days, TAP said. In a statement made recently, the Tunisian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdelhamid Triki said that Libya's rebuilding would benefit some 200,000 Tunisians in the first stage. Burshane is part of a delegation led by the chairman of the NTC executive office, Mahmoud Jibril, to Tunisia on Saturday. During the visit, Jibril met with Tunisian interim President Fouad Mebazaa and interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, to discuss bilateral cooperation.