Libya appeals for protection in legal woes with foreign firms

TRIPOLI, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed deputy prime minister Ahmad M'etig on Sunday stressed importance of qualified legal teams to represent Libya before international courts.

M'etig made his remarks during a seminar organized by the Libyan Center for International Commercial Arbitration.

M'etig said that the weakness of the Libyan position against foreign companies is due to political division in the country, with internationally unrecognized institutions representing Libyan interests before international courts.

M'etig also stressed the importance of professionalism of lawyers, in order to contribute to winning cases against Libya.

The Center's Chairman Mohammed Jihan stressed importance of "settling disputes away from courts like other countries."

He pointed to the weakness of Libyan laws, which have not yet been updated, to regulate provisions of arbitration rules as Libya did not sign international arbitration agreements.

Jihan also revealed that the center adopted of a number of plans and programs to "develop mechanism of the Center's work," and that the center "seeks to sign memorandums of understanding with friendly countries to benefit from their experience in this field."

Most foreign companies left Libya following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, due to deteriorating security situation.

Kuwait's M.A. Kharafi & Sons has one of the most prominent cases of foreign companies filed against Libya, because of failure of implementation of a 130-million dollars investment project in the Libyan capital Tripoli. The Group seeks compensation of 1 billion dollars. Enditem