Libya, Tunisia should work together

Abdel-Wahab Maatar Tunis - Nabil Zaghdoud     Tunisian Minister of Vocational Training and Employment Abdel-Wahab Maatar has told Arabstoday that cooperation between his country and Libya was an inevitable necessity. On the sidelines of a joint press conference on Wednesday night with Libyan Minister of Labour and Habilitation Mustafa Alragabani. Maatar said: “We should ‘marry’ (coordinate) Libya's manpower needs to Tunisia's need for employment opportunities for over 800,000 unemployed”. He added: “We’ll carry out exploratory operations for ways to help Libya make use of Tunisian manpower from the most senior engineer to the simplest worker.” “The next few days will witness the activation of the memorandum of understanding which this visit resulted in, including ways in which Libya could benefit from Tunisian manpower in its reconstruction programmes,” he explained. The minister said: “Reconstruction requires all sorts of professional experience...a Tunisian committee of experts will travel soon to Libya to determine their needs.” Libyan authorities have mentioned on several occasions that “Tunisians have absolute priority to work in Libya." Minister Alragabani called on the Tunisian government, people and businessmen to visit Libya and gauge available expertise. He also dismissed fears the security situation of the country was still unstable, saying they had "no justification".