The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) will be leading a delegation to accompany Minister of Foreign Affairs George Yeo on his official visit to Libya from 18 to 24 May to explore business opportunities there. It is the first business mission to be organized in conjunction with a ministerial visit after Singapore established diplomatic relations with Libya on 3 March 2006 . This is also SBF's first mission to the Middle East and North Africa region after it's launch of the Middle East Business Group, a business network, in March 2007.

The purpose of this 5-day mission is exploratory in nature. It serves as both:

- A fact finding mission to better understand market conditions, current opportunities and future development plans, particularly in the oil and gas and infrastructure sectors.

- An opportunity to obtain useful contacts to tap potential export and investments opportunities arising from the opening up of the Libyan market.

The Mission 's agenda

The delegation will be visiting both Tripoli and Benghazi , Libya 's key and second largest commercial cities respectively, and is slated to meet senior officials including the Libyan minister of Trade and Industry, Chairman of the Planning Council and other senior officials from the Libyan EDB, Port Authority, Ministry of Housing and Tourism Development.

In addition, the SBF delegation will also meet the Tripoli and Benghazi chamber of commerce for business matching sessions with Libyan businessmen. SBF will make use of this opportunity to initiate future collaborations with the Libyan chambers.

What the mission hopes to accomplish.

The SBF-led delegation of 11 participants from 10 companies, representing the oil and gas and its supporting industries; construction, construction equipment and building materials; and the agriculture sectors aims to better understand the market and identify reliable local partners for collaborative ventures in oil and gas and construction services. In addition, they will also seek buyers and distributors for agriculture, building and oil and gas related products.

The Singapore Business Federation is optimistic about opportunities in Libya . We have been looking at the Libyan market with great interest since 2005 after the Libyans decided to open up their country to the international business community when the sanctions ended in 2004.

Libya is an economy in transition, very much like its neighbours Algeria and Egypt , with the exception that it is at the very early stages of transformation from a state- dominated and centrally-planned economy to a freer economic regime. It possesses tremendous wealth in hydrocarbons, and is currently investing in both hard and soft infrastructure to ready its economy for sustainable growth in the future.

Drawing from our experience of engaging other markets in the Middle East & North Africa region, we expect both bountiful opportunities as well as challenges for Singapore businesses. Whilst the Federation encourages all interested Singapore- based businesses to take up the challenge to explore this market, our advice is that they should approach it with a long term view, and proceed carefully in steady incremental steps.

What Libya has to offer.

The government dominates Libya 's socialist-oriented economy through complete control of the country's oil resources, which account for approximately 97% of export earnings, 75% of government receipts, and 54% of the gross domestic product. Oil revenues constitute the principal source of foreign exchange. Following the removal of sanctions in 2004, the government announced ambitious plans to increase foreign investment in the oil and gas sectors to significantly boost production capacity. The government is also pursuing a number of infrastructure projects in housing, highways, railways, telecommunications, and irrigation.