By CHARGÉ D’ AFFAIRES MOHAMED MELAD
Our two friendly countries, my country Libya and the Republic of the Philippines, enjoy diplomatic relations that are over 47 years old.
Since its inception, these relations have witnessed development that may have been uneven in its growth, but has never regressed, and has rather maintained its level. Today, I have great hope to push these relations to broader horizons. Despite the geographical distance between our two countries, the opportunities are great and promising to work together for a better future of decent life and sustainable development for our peoples.
Until recently, Libya was considered an important destination for skilled workers and medical and paramedical staff. Filipino workers worked hand in hand with their Libyan friends and other nationalities in development, construction projects, and in hospital facilities, where they gained such good reputation that prompted many of those I know to entrust me with the task of speeding up the return of Filipino skilled workers and engineers to factories, oil companies, electricity production and generation stations, and medical staff to hospitals and medical laboratories. While I fully understand the reasons that still prevent such return, I am absolutely certain that these reasons will soon disappear. And I want my friends from this kind and generous nation to gain the lead and take the jobs, for the Libyan people will not forget that their friends from the Filipino community chose to stay by their side in their darkest hours.
At a time when many embassies were closing their doors and leaving my country, Filipino diplomats chose to stay in Tripoli like the Libyans and out of concern to provide the necessary services to the Filipino community.
The Philippines was also a destination for many Libyans who sought knowledge in its universities and institutes, all thanks to the skills and mastery exhibited by Filipino workers whom they came in contact with, directly or indirectly, during their presence in Libya. This was an incentive for them to go through this experience and come to the Philippines aiming to gain these skills.
Libya played an effective role in bringing peace to the south of the Philippines. Let us recall that the first seed for the peace that the Bangsamoro enjoys today, crowned by the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, was the 1976 Tripoli Peace Agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front. This was preceded by the first negotiation session between the two parties held in Benghazi in 1973. It is true that many parties played multiple roles in this process later on. However, Libya was not far behind with its good efforts in this regard, even if its role declined due to the political circ*mstances it is going through. Libya hosted the reconciliation meeting between the factions of the Moro National Liberation Front in 2003 leading to its participation in the International Monitoring Team to monitor the ceasefire in the southern Philippines in 2004. Libya also adopted and supported the Philippines' request to join the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as an observer. We look forward to the day when the work of the joint committee between the two countries will be activated to expand and develop areas of cooperation between our two friendly countries.
Although Libya today suffers from problems related mainly to wrongful interventions that have exacerbated the situation over the past years until things have reached what they are today in terms of fragmentation in its institutions, decline in the services provided to its people, and deterioration in the standard of living of the citizen, who was the most affected by the political, security and social instability. Libya also suffers from freezing its assets, restrictions on aviation, and the travel of citizens.
But at the same time, Libya enjoys natural resources that extend over a huge area of 1,760,000 square kilometers and a coast of 1900 kilometers that is the longest among the African countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. It also has population of close to seven million, classified as among the very high category in development, according to United Nations indicators. Libya was ranked first at the African level and fifth at the Arab level in the Human Development Report for the year 2010. Moreover, the proud people of Libya refuse to allow any outside parties to lay control over their country and reject all dictates that seek to impose any ideology or system on governance in the country, a people fully cognizant of what happened in their country, and with all appreciation for international efforts and the efforts of brothers and friends to find a way out of the crisis in Libya, therefore the solution should be entirely Libyan that cuts the way of all blatant interventions that took place from 2011 to the present day and blocks all attempts to impose certain visions to serve certain geopolitical and economic interests, especially since Libya practically is a virgin land full of treasures that have not yet been discovered, which is what makes it the focus of attention and coveted by many in the world.
The clock hands only move forward, and surely Libya will start a fresh page. The Libyan people are people who appreciate the magnitude of the tragedy they have gone through and nothing more than the civil war and fratricidal fighting teaches what life and what the concepts of stability, security, peace and prosperity mean; that no one wins in a civil war, but everyone is a loser in it.
An entire generation of educated, conscious and seasoned patriots from the sons of modern Libya will not allow Libya to turn into a failed state, God forbid.
The Philippines, its government and people, are invited and encouraged to contribute as it had done in the past, to the journey of reconstruction and rebuilding which will resume soon for a new Libya. In sha Allah.
