Türkiye can help Libya use its potential in energy: Minister

TRIPOLI

Türkiye is ready to cooperate with companies and other countries to help Libya unleash its huge potential in energy, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

Libya is important not only for Türkiye but also for global markets, Bayraktar said in a speech he delivered at the Energy and Economy Summit held in Tripoli on the weekend.

The epidemics and wars in recent years have caused disruptions in the global energy markets, the minister stressed, adding that cooperation in the field of energy is needed.

Securing the energy supply and providing reliable and affordable energy is becoming more difficult, Bayraktar said.

“We definitely need international cooperation to overcome all these challenges.”

He said that Türkiye and Libya have a long-standing relationship in many areas.

“We can extend this to the field of energy as well.”

Last week, Bayraktar vowed to boost cooperation for the excavation and processing of rare earth materials.

Speaking at a round table meeting, as part of the Future Minerals Forum in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, Bayraktar said Türkiye is open to new partnerships for the development of this crucial sector with countries, particularly in Africa and West and Central Asia.

He recalled that in 2020, the country launched a Rare Earth Elements Research Institute to examine the potential of critical minerals and that the world's second-largest rare earth element reserve was discovered in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir in the same year.

Türkiye plans to build an industrial facility in Eskişehir to process annually 570,000 tons of rare earth elements, Bayraktar added.