The conference will be introduced by Joseph F. X. Zahra, chairman of Bank of Valletta Group. Speeches by Dr Saad El-Shalamani from the Libyan People’s Bureau and Dr Richard Laurenti, Maltese Ambassador to Libya will follow.

Other speakers addressing the conference are Mr Mohamed Shokri, chairman Gumhouria Bank, who will talk about the banking sector in Libya and Mr Mohamed Ghattour, director Ghattour Audit Firm who will speak about setting up business in Libya.

John Pollacco, BOV’s representative officer in Libya will discuss Bank of Valletta’s role in assisting Maltese businessmen to conduct business in Libya while Dr Sadeek Mesrati from Mesrati Law Office will talk about Libya’s Legal Framework. Dr Austin Sammut from Ganado Sammut Advocates will address the topic Doing Business in Libya through Malta.

Speaking about the organisation of this conference, Mr Zahra described how, over the past two-and-a-half years, the BOV Libya Representative Office has managed to fulfill an important business development role and facilitate business between the two countries.

“Our representative office, seeks to encourage Maltese businessmen to actively seek new opportunities in Libya and to support BOV customers by offering the vast experience and information that has been gathered by this office during these past years of operation in Libya. We look forward to an active participation in tomorrow’s

conference which is part of the bank’s efforts to support and offer added value to all our

business clients,” concluded Mr Zahra.