The Libya Energy and Economic Summit opened in Tripoli yesterday with the participation of several international trade and energy stakeholders, but with the absence of high profile guests that were initially set to be there, namely the top leaders of Italy and Malta. They were scheduled to participate in the launch ceremony of the summit yesterday, and both were set to deliver opening speeches alongside Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, as shown by the summit’s program agenda. However, neither of the European leaders attended or even delivered speeches online. No statement from the governments of Libya, Italy and Malta was issued to explain the reasons. While the absence of top European leaders was a snub to the Libyan government-sponsored event, Dbeibeh, nevertheless, managed to secure the participation of representatives of key European energy stakeholders including Eni, TotalEneregies, Repsol as well as Malta’s Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.
