Libyan tourism minister in Malta on her first official visit outside the country

Libya is hoping to follow in Malta's footsteps and learn from its successes in tourism, tourism minister Ikram Bash Imam said today.

The Libyan minister and her delegation are currently in Malta on invitation of the Maltese government. This is her first official visit outside Libya since being appointed minister for tourism.

Today's meeting follows a meeting held in Tripoli when Maltese minister Karmenu Vella, together with a number of other ministers, accompanied Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to Libya.

"We want to continue strengthening the relationship between Malta and Libya which in the past not only translated into economic benefits but also benefitted the tourism sector," Vella said. 

He said there were several areas of cooperation that could be exploited, especially those which involve tourism.

On the agenda are also talks on the revision of the tourism cooperation agreement signed in 1995 between the two countries and the drawing up of educational and training programmes in tourism.

Plans for a visit by a Maltese business delegation to Libya were also discussed.