Hommam Al Nassim 
Libya, whose delegation headed by Belkacem Haftar, son of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, is participating in the Russia-Islamic World Forum in Kazan, offered the Russian company Tat Naft to establish an oil refinery in Libya.
This came on the sidelines of the forum held from 14 to 19 May, in which a delegation from eastern Libya will participate, which also includes four ministers from the government of eastern Libya, namely: Abdul Hadi Huwaij, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ali Al-Saadi Qaidi, Minister of Investment, Awad Badri, Minister of Electric Energy and Renewable Energy, in addition to Faraj Khalil Salem, Minister of Technical Education.
Libya’s investment minister announced that his country is ready to enter into an agreement with the Russian company, while the Libyan-based company has expressed interest in the project.
“Russia has a lot of crude oil, but now its supplies are difficult due to sanctions and embargoes, and this can be solved by a refinery that is being built in Libya and crude oil is transported to it and then oil derivatives are sold,” the minister said.
“We had negotiations on this issue, and they found the idea interesting,” he said, adding that the Russian company could also use the oil already in Libya to recharge and process it. “We have incredible reserves,” the Libyan minister said, expressing hope that the agreement would be reached.
On February 19, Belkacem assumed the position of Director General of the newly created Libya Reconstruction Fund, where he leads the main economic structure in eastern Libya, through which development projects that serve the development of infrastructure are supported and identified by attracting foreign companies that submit appropriate offers in the public interest.
Belkacem is the first to assume the position created by the House of Representatives, which includes under his supervision the Benghazi Reconstruction Committee and the Derna Reconstruction Fund and oversees reconstruction projects throughout Libya.
“The economic forum includes 125 dialogue sessions with participation from over 11,000 individuals representing experts from Russia, countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and other nations. Additionally, it involves representatives from active governmental entities in promoting exports and encouraging investment.”
In February 2023, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, met with the Ambassador of Libya. The meeting discussed issues of long-term cooperation within the framework of Russian-Libyan relations.
During the meeting, the great role played by the Kazan International Economic Forum in this context was emphasized.
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