Tripoli: The United States and Libya have signed a trade and investment agreement aimed at easing economic cooperation between the two countries, culminating two years of intensive diplomatic negotiations. The agreement is the latest sign that the relations between the two countries are increasingly improving and also pave the way to explore Libya's untapped oil wealth. It also came after the first trade mission to Libya in February led by Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services Nicole Lamb-Hale and representatives from 25 American companies. The deal aims to provide the means that will allow each of the two countries to study and discuss any issue of common interest including trade relations and the study of any difficulties that may face their bilateral trade relations and providing solution as well, according to a joint statement. “Libya is increasingly coming under the radar of potential foreign investors,” Philippe Dauba-Pantanacce, Senior Economist with Standard Chartered Bank Dubai, United Arab Emirates told The Media Line. “Navigating through the intricacies of the Libyan's red tape can be daunting,” he said. “But at the same time, the hydrocarbon rich country represents a land of under tapped opportunities.” “At the end of January, Libya finally approved a law allowing for the establishment of a free-trade-zone designed to attract foreign investment in tourism, trade and services and allowing for the free movement of capital and goods with a ten-year tax break,” Dauba-Pantanacce explained. The US delegation's visit in February was the latest in a gradual thaw in American-Libyan relations. In May 2007, then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice removed Libya from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism due to Libya's stated abandonment of its weapons of mass destruction program - believed to include nuclear weapons - back in 2003. Frosty relations typified Muammar Al Ghaddafis early years in power, starting in 1969, when he provided training for a number of European terrorist organizations such as Northern Ireland's IRA and Spain's ETA. In December 2008, the US appointed veteran diplomat Gene Cretz as its first diplomat in nearly three decades. The last hurdle for the reinstating of an ambassador was the completion of the payment by the Libyan government to the $1.5 billion fund established to settle the claims made by American citizens against the Libyan government for its involvement of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 that killed 270 people. In 2001, Abdelbaset Al Megrahia, a Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted for his involvement the bombing. The British government released him in 2009 on humanitarian grounds. Dana Moss Adjunct Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The Media Line the deal was a further sign Libya was coming back into the global community. “(Still) Libya has been back in the fold for quite some time,” Moss told the Media Line. “Libya and the United States have been cooperating on a number of issues for some time.” “Having Libya as an ally is definitely a good thing,” she added. “Although it may not be the most reliable one.”
