The National Dialogue Preparatory Commission (NDPC), the entity tasked with preparing the Libyan national dialogue, presented its national dialogue model at a press conference yesterday at the Corinthia Hotel, Tripoli.
Present at the launch were members of the NDPC, the 73 member Consultative Team, and the UN Technical Assistance Team which has been helping with the process.
The launch has come after four months of developing the national dialogue model and after intensive consultation and cooperation with all aspects of the Libyan society be it political or social, explained NPDC Chairman Fadeel Lameen.
Lameen said that Libya needed to move from one stage to another and from one situation to another and that this transition could be achieved only through the power of dialogue. This historic step, he explained, was necessary in order to create a new Libya of prosperity, safety and security.
Included in the dialogue model presented were the foundations, the guiding principles, the goals, and the time table. Lameen said that the process should take 6 months of dialogue divided into two 3 month stages.
Lameen explained that the National Dialogue process would lead to a National Charter – a set of agreed principles upon which the national dialogue process can proceed, expected to be ready in April.
Thereafter, the national dialogue, including all stakeholders, will start to tackle the various issues facing Libya, including security and economic development.
Asked by the media at the press conference about the independence of its members and the dialogue process, Lameen stressed that all 15 members of the NPDC were volunteer Libyans not associated with any political groupings.
They would not be part of the dialogue and do not work for the government. They are there to prepare and not to make political decisions on the various vexing political issues being discussed.
While Lameen admited that it was the government that was financing the process, he stressed the independence of the body and the process, pointing out that while the government was technically the mechanism that is paying, it was paying for this Libyan dialogue process with “Libyan money”.
Sami Zaptia
http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/16/the-libyan-national-dialogue-launched/#ixzz2qrnjURJ2
