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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
Italy was one of Libya's major trading partners in the late
1970s. Relations with Italy, however, have been somewhat mercurial.
In 1973 Libyan aircraft strafed an Italian combat vessel patrolling
an area in the Mediterranean where an earlier dispute had led to
the detention of Italian fishing trawlers. Libya officially
apologized for the strafing incident and relations improved in 1974
with Jallud's visit to Italy and the conclusion of several
commercial and technical agreements. However, there were three more
incidents involving Italian fishing boats operating near the Libyan
coast in December 1975. Earlier that year, British press reports
alleged that Libya was funding radical Italian political groups.
Despite these frictions, relations improved in 1975 because
agreement was reached regarding compensation for property lost when
Italians left Libya under pressure after the 1969 revolution. A
major commercial transaction was completed in December 1976; Libya
purchased more than 9 percent of the stock of the Fiat Company,
placing 2 representatives on Fiat's 15-member board of directors in
the process. Increasing pressures were brought on Fiat, Italy's
largest privately owned firm, by the Italian government and Western
interests to buy back Libyan-owned stock shares, which by 1986
amounted to a 15.2-percent share in the firm. The Libyan
government-owned Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company agreed to
divest itself of the stock in September 1986, presumably to
generate revenue of over US $3 billion to compensate for lower
Libyan oil revenues.
Data as of 1987
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