Overview

The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, more commonly called Libya around the world, is located in North Africa on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The country is bordered by Tunisia, Algeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Egypt. From around 2,500 years ago to the mid 20th century Libya has been under the control of a succession foreign powers, which ended with the Italian occupation in the late 1940`s. Full independence came at the end of 1951 and in 1969 the country underwent a bloodless coup one of whose leaders was Colonel Gaddafi (the promotion to Colonel came after the coup). In 1959 oil and gas was discovered and nowadays accounts for 95% of the countries total merchandise exports and accounts for more than 50% of the country`s gross domestic product according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

For much of the past 30 or so years many countries around the world have seen Libya as a pariah state and sponsor of terrorism, however for some years now Libya and it`s leader Colonel Gaddafi have been moving towards regaining the acceptance of the international community. Since the turn of the new millennium changes in Libya`s stance towards the west of have grown at a quickening pace so much so that in May 2006 the U.S. Government announced that it would be removing Libya from its list of terror-sponsoring states. Although the country has some way to go with its changes, Libya is already seeing the benefits to its economy with foreign companies looking for partnerships within Libya. Companies once owned by the state are being privatised and investment in infrastructure is gaining pace, an example of investment relates to the countries growing tourist sector with the building of new hotels and upgrades to airports. Also foreign companies, which played an important role in the formative years of the Libyan oil industry such as ExxonMobil, are returning.

The Libyan capital, Tripoli is the largest of the countries cities and is Libya`s economic hub. With increased Inter co-operation between Libya and western countries the infrastructure of the city is changing dramatically.

The Human Development Report 2007/2008 published by the United Nations Development Program shows that Libya is in the top classification of High Human Development; the report looks at 159 countries worldwide and many different aspects of human development. It is notable that Libya is the only African nation among the 70 in the high classification.

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