By Gregory Viscusi and Mark Deen
September 07, 2011 07:06 EDT
Libya’s new leaders will send representatives to a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven this week, seeking reconstruction help after ousting dictator Muammar Qaddafi, French officials said.
Libya will be an observer at the Sept. 10 meeting in Marseille, the officials said. It is likely to be included in the so-called “Deauville Partnership,” named after the French town where the world’s leading industrial countries pledged in May to help Arab countries build democratic societies.
Morocco and Jordan have joined initial members Tunisia and Egypt since the initiative was launched at the summit at the Normandy resort May 27.
Multilateral development banks such as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank said then they would raise $20 billion for Tunisia and Egypt through 2013 to help underpin their economies after popular revolutions ousted authoritarian regimes.
Jordan and Morocco’s kings have announced steps toward allowing more democratic representation. In Libya, Qaddafi was overthrown after a six-month conflict in which North Atlantic Treaty Organization fighter jets backed rebel forces.
The four countries, as well as development banks, will each present “action plans” in Marseille. The meeting is not a pledging conference, said the French officials, who briefed reporters on the condition they not be named.
