Libya has already privatised dozens of firms as part of sweeping reforms and is offering some companies in the cement, steel and petrochemical sectors to foreigners, Libya's reformist prime minister said on Friday.
Shokri Ghanem told Reuters that Libya had received several foreign offers for cement factories and a steel mill, which are among the 360 or so companies Libya has said it would privatise as it switches direction after three decades of socialism.
"(Privatisation) is going very well ... I would say that there are now about 50, 60 companies (that) have been transferred and another 40, 50 in the pipeline," he said, speaking after a seminar during a visit by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
The reformist prime minister said cement, steel and petrochemical firms were being offered to foreigners, but he said banks "for the time being" would be offered to Libyans.
Umma and Jamahiriya banks, two of the country's big five state banks, could be offered for privatisation by December, he added. Officials have previously named two other banks for sale.
Asked if foreigners had made offers to buy Libyan companies, he said: "We have so many offers, in particular for the cement factories and the steel mill."
He cited proposals for the cement companies coming from France, Austria and others.
Foreign business people have poured into Libya on visits since it launched its reforms and as sanctions have been lifted, partly prompted by Tripoli's decision in December to scrap programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Most early foreign investor interest in Libya, which a population of about 5.5 million, has been in the oil industry, a sector which was starved of technology under sanctions.
However, investors have also been looking at other industries, but say Libya needs to address hurdles to business such as time-consuming bureaucracy and the lack of independent arbitration mechanisms to resolve contract disputes.
Ghanem said Libya was trying address business concerns to attract more foreign capital.
"The most important thing is to just start with cutting down the red tape, trying to ease the administrative procedures," Ghanem said.
"We think that tourism, besides oil, ... and some small and medium sized industries are quite good sectors for foreign investment, and this is what we are doing," he said.
Ghanem said Libya offers good prospects for businesses as it opens up after years of isolation and said its geographic location makes it an attractive destination.
"The return on investment is high. Libya is a door to Africa as well; and of course being close to Europe, this proximity serves to make it quite an attractive place to the foreign investors," he said.
UN sanctions were lifted last year after Libya took responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing and agreed to a compensation deal.
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