Dbeibah, US official discuss Libya election roadmap, economic unity

TRIPOLI –Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity Abdulhamid Dbeibah discussed the country’s political developments with US Senior Policy Adviser for Libya at the State Department Jeremy Berndt on Sunday, focusing on the outcomes of the 4+4 mini dialogue committee and steps needed to create conditions for holding elections.

The meeting in Tripoli, according to a statement from Dbeibah’s government media office, addressed efforts to advance the political process, particularly the 4+4 committee’s recommendations on preparing the legal framework for elections and restructuring the board of the High National Elections Commission.

The two sides also stressed the importance of building on agreements reached among Libya’s rival parties.

Their discussions included the role of the UN Support Mission in Libya in backing the political process, highlighting the continued reliance on international mediation to support Libyan agreements and turn them into arrangements that can be implemented.

The 4+4 committee comprises four members representing the Government of National Unity and four representing the eastern-based Libyan National Army command. On Aug. 30, its members signed an agreement at the UN mission headquarters in Tripoli to restructure the High National Elections Commission and amend the electoral framework, including the laws governing the electoral process.

The US-Libyan talks also extended beyond the political track to economic issues, including the “unified development spending agreement” and the need to comply with its provisions in a way that strengthens unified spending, improves fiscal discipline and transparency, supports a fair distribution of resources and preserves financial and economic stability.

The meeting also addressed the oil sector and ways to support the National Oil Corporation and strengthen its ability to manage the sector and maintain stable production on professional and transparent foundations.

Oil is the main source of Libya’s economy and one of the issues most closely linked to the country’s political and institutional divisions, making the management of the sector and its revenues a central part of efforts to bridge the divide between competing institutions.

The discussions come as Libya seeks to build agreements that can overcome the institutional split between its eastern and western authorities.

In November 2025, representatives of the House of Representatives and the High State Council signed an agreement on a “unified development programme”. Representatives of the two bodies then signed an addendum in April covering the unification of public spending and the adoption of financial schedules, marking the first agreement of its kind at the national level in more than 13 years.

Libya’s unified 2026 budget is worth about 167.36 billion Libyan dinars, covering salaries, subsidies, operating expenditure and development projects. Agreement on the management of public resources therefore represents a practical test of whether Libyan parties can turn political understandings into sustainable institutional arrangements.

The talks with the US official underline that elections remain the main entry point for addressing Libya’s crisis, but holding them requires progress on a series of interconnected issues, beginning with electoral laws and the composition of the elections commission and extending to the unification of institutions and public spending and the stable management of the country’s oil wealth.

The biggest obstacle remains the existence of two rival governments: one based in Tripoli and internationally recognised, and another appointed by the House of Representatives and based in Benghazi, which administers eastern Libya and much of the south.

Any progress on elections is likely to remain tied to the ability of the rival parties to consolidate their latest agreements and prevent them from becoming temporary understandings that collapse at the first political test.

For Washington, support for the electoral process and economic agreements appears to form part of efforts to preserve a viable political track, while for Libyans the process offers a potential route out of a prolonged transitional period that began with the overthrow of Muammar Gadhafi’s government in 2011.

The meeting also covered continued coordination on issues of mutual concern, as the two sides discussed efforts to strengthen stability and advance Libya’s electoral process.