2.6.3 ESTABILIDAD DEL ACEITE DE OLIVA

On 27th July 2001, the World Trade Organization (WTO), following the normal procedure for negotiating membership, agreed to set up a working party to examine Libya’s application, which was made in December 2001.

P a g e | 132 WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION RESTRICTED WT/ACC/LBY/1 10 December 2001 (01-6262) Original: English ACCESSION OF LIBYA

Request for Accession Pursuant to Article XII

The Director-General has received the following communication dated 25 November 2001 from the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade of the Government of the

Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

_______________

The representatives of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya have attended the 3rd and 4th ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organization and have followed with

interest the activities of the WTO.

Having regard to its desire to expand its multilateral trade relations, my Government has decided to request accession in pursuant to Article XII of the Agreement

establishing the WTO and is ready to undertake the established procedures.

I request that this application be considered at the next meeting of the General Council and trust that WTO Members will consider the application for the accession

of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya positively.

(WTO, 2009) As an applicant country, Libya has been an observer to the WTO during the membership negotiation (General People’s Committee for Trade and Economy

P a g e | 133 Decision 2, 2001). It is unclear as yet where Libya stands with its application and it will not be without an elected government in Libya.

The theme possible benefits of globalisation and trade liberalisation emerged, which describes mixed feelings about Libya’s ‘opening up’ to international trade and the liberalisation of nation’s economic markets. Some interviewees viewed this as an opportunity for job creation, citing the impact of the years of embargos and sanctions placed on Libya during the mid-1980s and most of the 1990s. M2 mentioned that:

‘Since the removal of the embargo and trade restrictions, Libya is now moving towards a free enterprise market, or what we call people’s capitalism, WTO accession

is something we are now striving for along with other international trade agreements, procurement laws and policies will need to change to meet criteria.’

This was further affirmed by another NPC member who also views WTO accession as an opportunity for Libya. N6 stated:

‘WTO accession and many other trade agreements is what Libya wants to achieve soon, we need to liberate our markets, create jobs and allow for more prosperity, this

is something that Libya has been denied due to the international sanctions and now that has changed we need to make up for lost time and bring Libya up to date with technological advancement such as Dubai, e gov; electronic tendering for example is

something that procurement policy does not allow for, because it is old.’

Although there has been some resistance towards market liberalisation over the past decade, the researcher found that WTO accession and the liberalisation of Libya’s economy was generally accepted as something that Libya ought to achieve from the interviewees. However, the theme governments are unprepared for the changes

emerged, indicating a possible barrier to the development of the country.

Libya, in essence, is a socialist state, with Law No.1 (1979) as its underlying legal system and constitution. The Libyan public sector is the largest employer in the country, employing 1.6 million people across its public institutions and its state- owned enterprise. One NPC member emphasised that WTO accession is not

P a g e | 134 something of national priority, and that there are more pressing demands. N5 stated that:

‘I think that it’s too early for Libya to pursue WTO accession, we have many other issues we need to face first, our laws and policies are old and need to be updated, the

procurement policy has loopholes and does not allow for transparency, it eventually will be updated if WTO accession is going to be further pursued, how it will be amended I don’t know, but it will inevitably take a long time and involve a Congress

decision.,

These views supported the theme perceived needs of aligning national policy to that of international government policy, which suggests the need of the country to prioritise internal political issues before any international venture. This was further affirmed by NPC member M4 who stated that:

‘There are things which do not fit with our country, I don’t think free trade shall either, for example we do not want mass tourism such as in Tunis or Egypt, we don’t

need the money as they do so we will not allow for big holiday resorts in Libya.’

The general rhetoric from the interviewees is that Libya should pursue WTO accession and open up to international trade and liberalise its economy to allow for private sector development and ultimately job creation. However, various interviewees indicated that this was either too early, or not a pressing matter that ought to be sought at that time. While various reasons emerged, the general point of concern was that Libya is not ready and that procurement policy and other economic policies in place were not fit for this transition. One NPC member also noted that transparency would be a key barrier to the move towards achieving WTO accession. N7 stated that:

‘Procurement policy does not allow for transparent transactions, does not allow for accountability and has loopholes which many department personnel can easily abuse.

This is an area of great concern, however the sensitivity of the matter does not allow it for wide discussion and criticism.’

P a g e | 135 ‘This is something we are watching closely and advising the team involved in the negotiations, we have started a capacity building programme for SMEs in Libya and

various other courses in international trade. The procurement policy is very old and outdated as with many other laws that limit the opportunity for free trade which is the

corner stone of the WTO.’

Based on these themes, the researcher highlighted key concerns from the interviewees on WTO accession and free trade. These themes include: (a) major step in transition from a socialist to a capitalist economy; (b) WTO accession is seen as too early in this

transition; (c) international ventures would not be fit in an outdated procurement policy, and (d) transparency issues in the procurement regime. Table 5.7 outlines the

responses to these themes.

Thematic Categories/Constituents No. of

participants to offer this experience % of participants to offer this experience

Possible benefits of globalisation and trade liberalisation

12 60%

Governments are unprepared for the changes 11 55% Perceived needs of aligning national policy to that of

international government policy

11 55%

Knowledge and skills of policy negotiators 9 45% Active advocacy of sectoral groups for policy

amendments

9 45%

Changes in the social and political environment 4 20%

Table 5.7: Thematic Category 6: Influencing Factors of Policy Development