Libya Readies to Take Center Stage

    TRIPOLI, Libya, August 30 /PRNewswire/ --

    - Spectacular Opening Event to Headline a Week-long Series of Celebratory
      Events

    - Libya's Rich and Ancient History Featuring the Jewels of the African
      Union to be Showcased

Preparations are near conclusion for ‘Celebrate Libya’, one of Africa’s
biggest ever events, in Tripoli today. The grand celebration will then set in
motion a week-long series of festivities for the world to enjoy. Libya
appears to be striving not only to outdo any of its earlier Al Fateh revolution anniversaries, but perhaps Any event on the continent as well. The
historic celebration designed to mark 40 years of Muammar Al Gaddafi,
Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution, also commemorates another
significant regional milestone – a decade since Africa’s countries came
together, under his leadership, to form the African Union.

After months of preparation, the festivities are in their final stages on
what is considered to be one of the world’s largest stages. Working alongside
the Libyan Government, international planners, builders and managers have
been flown in to ensure next week’s success. The architect behind ‘Celebrate
Libya,’ Philippe Skaff, remarks on his experience throughout the project, “I
was an explorer about to embark on a journey of a lifetime with the chance to
write the most impressive chapter of the story of my life and this unique
challenge has evolved in terms of content to extreme proportions. It is a
beautiful thing to control the full event management and the people of Libya
made it enjoyable and rewarding from start to finish.”

Eight hundred performers, including hundreds of dancers, unique African
animal structures, military bands, flame ballet, and laser projections will
bring to life 12,000 years of the land’s rich history and see the 120
meter-wide screen stage fill with water to recreate the Mediterranean Sea. To
top off the grand event a fireworks display will light up the sky, launched
from ships off the coast of Tripoli. The show is orchestrated by the French
company, Group F, who are credited with some of the most impressive light
displays including the Eiffel Tower’s Millennium Celebrations and the famed
Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve.

More than 300,000 people are expected to gather in Tripoli’s Green Park
along with hundreds of special guests and dignitaries. Place-cards have
already been made for the likes of Berlusconi, foreign ambassadors, leaders
of industry and celebrities, along with most, if not all, African heads of
state who will already be attending the August 31st Africa Union Summit
hosted by Libya.

As for the next seven days, unprecedented events are scheduled to sweep
through the country introducing some of Libya’s lesser known national
treasures to the world. Their itineraries boast castles, floating
restaurants, touareg horse performers, hot air balloons, island escapes and a
circus. Concerts featuring both international and Arab music are to be set in
some of the world’s best preserved sites of world heritage while images and
lights will be projected on monuments in cities across the country.

Ranked as the second wealthiest country in Africa, after Equatorial
Guinea, Libya’s GDP reached over US$100bn last year and has remained largely
unaffected by the global economic crisis. Along with Nigeria, it is also the
continent’s largest oil producer with reserves of at least 36bn barrels of
high quality oil. In a time when the Gulf’s reserves are limited, conflict in
West Africa, and Russia’s logistically difficult business environment,
Libya’s largely unexplored hydrocarbon industry appears highly promising.

Libya is seen by many as a long hidden treasure. And to the joy of
flocking business executives from New York to Tokyo, the ‘Gateway to Africa‘
has been increasingly liberalizing the role of the private sector. The
country has even partnered with the Middle East’s leader in alternative
energy innovation, the UAE, on an ambitious eco-tourism project in the Jebel
Akhdar. Other industries with emerging opportunities include
telecommunications, real estate and tourism. Plans for a 500-unit Movenpick
Hotel with a yacht club and a JW Marriott Hotel in Tripoli’s new central
business district are already underway.

Libya’s sanctions have for decades impaired access to investors and
tourists alike, leaving its five UNESCO World Heritage sites pristine yet
unseen. The cave drawings found in the Sahara’s Fezzan area, date Libyan
civilization back to at least 12,000 B.C. and since, the country has
experienced occupation under Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans and
Byzantines, all leaving behind traces of their conquests. Visitors to Leptis
Magna, Sabratha, or Cyrene can marvel at some of the world’s most well
preserved ruins, explore the Sahara’s exotic wilderness or simply enjoy a
holiday break on one of the 1,200 miles of unspoiled coastline.

Libya’s rich history, culture and its determination to see change happen
will be a celebrated by the most historical opening to the world on September
1st, 2009.

For access to full media materials, visit
http://www.celebratelibyapress.com. This site will be updated with new
materials and images throughout the week’s events

    Contact:
    - Bushra Hamwi
    - Rebecca Farquhar
    - Luiza Carter
    - Jordana Tasker - +218-917-171294
    or celebratelibya@greybeirut.com

SOURCE Celebrate Libya