An analytical report published by the international news agency Pressenza highlighted what it described as Libya opening new horizons in global diplomacy at the end of last August, considering its participation in the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) to reflect its desire to assume a different position on the international stage.
The report, which was followed and translated by Al-Marsad newspaper, pointed to the meeting of Presidential Council member Abdullah Al-Lafi and the Dbeibah government’s acting Foreign Minister, Al-Taher Al-Baour, with a number of senior Japanese officials, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, where they obtained concrete commitments related to education, human capital development, and technical cooperation. The two sides also discussed housing, digital security, and the reconstruction of destroyed cities.
The report affirmed that Japanese companies have shown interest in participating in investment projects in Derna and Benghazi, combining investment with knowledge transfer, as part of a broader vision to support reconstruction.
The report indicated that the visit to Japan adds to other steps recently taken by Libya, such as reopening consulates, resuming international flights, and participating in African and Mediterranean forums, in an effort to reintegrate itself into the world.
It added that this time, the integration process is not only based on Libya being an exporter of crude oil, but a state seeking to assert its place on the agenda of multipolar cooperation and democratic transition, despite the continued violence of armed militias, which recently manifested in a car bomb explosion in the city of Bani Walid.
The report considered that the continued violence is a reminder of the fragility of the transitional phase, but at the same time, it pointed to another narrative that Libya is trying to present to the world, as a country building diplomatic bridges and opening development paths despite its wounds.The report concluded by emphasizing that the reshaping of Libyan diplomacy is underway despite the security noise, in a country striving to carve out its place amidst the rubble and hope, driven by a determination to support the transition process in cooperation with allies who believe in the future of its people.