Monday, 18 May 2009
On the 20th and 21st of April United Nations Country Team in Libya, hosted the second Retreat at the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli. Attended by Engineer Mohamed Khaled El-Gwail, Under Secretary of the Secretariat of General People's Committee for Planning and Finance, other government officials, representatives of all the UN organizations working in Libya, UN representatives from Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia, the IOM and the Africa Development Bank.
The excellent, long standing and trustful relations between UN and Libya, testified by 60 years of joint work. Engineer El-Gwail's opened the meeting and delivered a speech. During the working sessions capacity building and capacity development were identified as top priorities for 2009. Issues such as gender, MDGs and human rights were also identified as priorities and a mechanism to enhance co-ordination with NGOs will be pursued. The Government requested a stronger presence of UN Agencies in Libya and they pleased to announce their common intention to reinforce their in-country presence.
During the meeting, the UN Common Country Assessment outlines were presented.
Another highlight was the presentation of the United Nations joint programme -Sabratha Clean City - that aims to promote a better environment and to enhance the health and quality of life of Sabratha's population on a sustainable basis through several projects such as: Improving solid waste management and introducing recycling in Sabratha City; developing and upgrading the archeological sites; rehabilitating the tuna factory complex; improving and revitalizing the fishing port conserving beaches and raising awareness on environmental conservation amongst local population.
As an outcome, the UN agencies present at the Retreat (UNDP, UNIC,WHO, FAO, UNHCR, UNESCO, UNIFEM, WFP, UNOPS, UNICEF, UNODC, UNCDF, UNECA, UNEP, UNHABITAT) ad IOM agreed on a list of actions to enhance their contribution and joint work on the Common Country Assessment and joint programmes, as well as on the measures to put in place to strengthen cooperation on the needs and priorities identified.