Sicilian port authority, Misurata Free Zone sign cooperation protocol

FTZ News:  Western Sicily’s port authority and Libya’s Misurata Free Zone signed a cooperation protocol Monday that sets out a framework for future commercial and logistics talks but creates no binding investment or service commitments.

Annalisa Tardino, president of the Port System Authority of the Western Sicilian Sea, and Mohsen al-Suqutri, head of the Misurata Free Zone board, signed the document during an Italian business mission. The authority oversees seven ports in western Sicily, among them Palermo, Termini Imerese and Trapani.

The protocol does not specify joint projects, shipping services, or customs arrangements. It authorizes the two sides to explore cooperation in transport and logistics. Tardino said the parties intend to turn the institutional link into concrete projects, though no timetable or working group was announced.

About 60 Italian companies took part in the mission, which ran from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 and was organized by the Italo-Libyan Chamber of Commerce. Participants included firms from infrastructure, energy, logistics and transport. Separately, Libyan officials have announced a proposed $2.7 billion expansion of the Misurata port terminal involving a consortium led by MSC, with a target of raising annual container capacity to 4 million. That plan is not part of the protocol signed Monday.

Italian officials have described closer port ties with Libya as a way to improve access to North African markets. Whether the new protocol leads to regular shipping services, shared logistics facilities, or any role for the Misurata Free Zone as a distribution point for Italian goods will depend on later agreements that have not yet been reached./.