A surprise move was announced by the Libyan government of Tripoli as Russian oil and gas companies will promptly return to the north-african country.
This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Ahmed Maityg, after his visit to Moscow.
"The security situation in Libya is now improving and we expect the Russian oil and gas companies to return to Libya, but we have not yet discussed the exact date.
The Libyan oil and gas lobby has a good plan to increase oil sales and a list of companies that will return to Libya. The Deputy Prime Minister of Tripoli noted that the companies Tatneft, Gazprom and Rosneft will be included in this list.
Maityg stressed that the safety of representatives of Russian companies coming to the country is one of the first priorities. "Of course, we will guarantee the safety of any company coming to Libya," he added.
Libya is not only interested in oil companies, but also in Russian aviation technology. The Tripoli government discussed the issue at a meeting with Russian Industry and Trade Minister, Denis Madurov.
"Yes, we talked about helicopters and civilian aircraft," Maityg said. According to him, the money for concluding contracts with the Russian Federation is frozen.
Ahmed Maityg said Russia and Libya could sign a new intergovernmental agreement on trade, economic and financial relations between the two countries similar to the one of 2008, by the end of this year.
"The deal will be worth $ 8-10 billion. Some work has already begun on this agreement. The rest of this deal is about $ 4 billion. "We agreed to continue this work," said Maityg.
In addition to Madurov, the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's message after the meeting, the development of bilateral mutually beneficial trade and economic ties was discussed, with Lavrov reaffirming the readiness of Russian companies to resume operations in Libya in a relatively short time and when the political and military crisis in the country will finally normalize.
The Russians will not leave Libya, as will the Turks, who are likely to launch investigations into the Libyan EEZ on the part of the Tripoli government.
The only question for Libya is what the US will do, which recently demanded the expulsion of Russians and Turks from the country, something that seems to be not going to happen at the moment.
