TRIPOLI — Maltese Premier Lawrence Gonzi is due in Tripoli Friday to meet with Prime Minister Ali Zidan. He will be accompanied on the five-hour visit by an as yet unnamed delegation of Maltese ministers. They will have separate talks with their Libyan counterparts. No details as to the nature of any the discussions have been given by Zidan's office or by Malta's Department of Information which announced the visit. However, it is known that Malta is particularly keen to intensify business tied and develop training programmes with Libya. In September, the Libyan Labor Ministry signed a MOU with Malta's Ministry of Education and Employment to provide technical and vocational training for Libyans. English-language training and the development of Libya's tourism potential are two other areas the Maltese are keen to become involved in. For their part the Libyan authorities are known to be keen to want to hotel and tourist infrastructure skills with Maltese help. According to sources in Malta, plans by the Maltese hotel group Corinthia to move forward on their Grand Hotel project in Benghazi are expected to figure in Friday's talks. One other subject expected to be discussed is Malta's request to open a consultate in Misrata. Meanwhile, Zidan has objected to a Libya Herald report that he was attacked in Beida, saying that the newspaper exaggerated the incident. In the report, the Libya Herald said that a local militia, the Ali Hassan Al-Jaber brigade, stormed the building in which he was due to meet members of Beida Local Council, and reportedly smashed his vehicle. The report also quoted a local security official, Captain Mayouf Ali, explaining that the milita was angry at Zidan for not going “to public squares and contemplating the plights and problems facing citizens [and instead] holding secret meetings in farms and private homes.” — Libya Herald
