One More Uncharted Territory: Tripoli

By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 1/15/2007

It wasn't long ago that Libya and the West were at loggerheads. Now, with the help of an American international exhibition organizer, they're making up.

Viewed as a rogue nation, Libya claimed responsibility for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. That led to sanctions against the country, making it an international pariah for nearly a decade and a half.

Then in 2002, Libya agreed to make restitution for the terrorist act; those responsible for the bombing were brought to trial; and relations between Libya and the outside world began to thaw.

This rapprochement led Peter Nathan, who goes where most U.S. show organizers fear to tread, to consider staging a tradeshow in Libya. Nathan, president of Exhibicon, has organized shows in Cuba, so dealing with black-listed nations was nothing new for him.

He first began his attempts to organize a show in Libya in 2004, finally succeeding in 2006. In partnership with Montgomery Exhibitions and its director, Sandy Angus, who took a leading role by opening an office in Tripoli, Nathan launched the first event addressing Libya's energy and infrastructure sectors, Project Libya, held Dec. 4–17 at the Tripoli Intl. Fairground. The event included Energy Libya — Libya Intl. Oil, Gas, Power and Renewable Energy Exhibition and Infrastructure Libya — Libya Intl. Infrastructure and Building & Construction Exhibition.

Nathan reported that the show attracted an estimated 2,585 attendees, including government officials, public and private sector planners, procurement officers, engineers, specialist contractors, consultants and trading agents.

On display in the 13,500 net square foot exhibit hall was a range of products and services aimed at Libya's economic development needs. In all, there were 141 companies from 20 countries, including the United States, Britain, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Spain and Libya.

The 40 U.S. exhibitors were largely focused on the oil and gas sector with equipment for exploration, production and downstream technology.

Nathan said the show met, but didn't exceed, his expectations. He termed it moderately successful, "on par with other first-time events overseas."

But, he added, most exhibitors said they would return to this year's Dec. 3–6 Project Libya, which will broaden to include agricultural and medical equipment, food, and computer technology.

One exhibitor, Bio-Microbics President Robert Rebori, called the show a good opportunity for his firm, which manufactures wastewater treatment components for unserved areas.

"The organizers did a great job. We're planning to go back and hope to have a distributor in place by then to help speed entry into the market," Rebori said.

He added that, once he got beyond the language and cultural differences, Libyans were the same as people anywhere: They have needs to be met.

He conceded that regional politics do have an effect, though. "Libya is just coming out of sanctions, and it's still a cash society with no credit cards (although the show organizers and contractors accepted credit cards)," Rebori said.

One notable cultural difference is the prohibition of alcohol. The absence of liquor at receptions or dinners completely eliminated the spontaneity and camaraderie that can come with unwinding with a cocktail at the end of the day at most tradeshows.

"That made things much more solemn than the festive tradeshows we're used to," Rebori said.

Nathan agreed that there were challenges to producing, and exhibiting in, a first-time show in a third-world country.

"The first was the perception of Libya as not being safe because it's in the Middle East — an erroneous one because Libya, although Muslim, is in North Africa," said Nathan. "It's very safe and very eager for U.S. products."

An additional difficulty was the long travel distance to Libya for most participants (6,848 miles from Los Angeles).

Another problem: visas, which Nathan said is still an issue. For now, U.S. citizens traveling to Libya must arrange visas through Libyan embassies in Ottawa or London, although the Libyan government did make some exceptions to this policy for American show participants.

As for the level of trade-show professionalism, Nathan said several areas remain in need of refinement.

"There's a large learning curve," he said. "The facilities could use updating and refurbishing."

Exhibitor Jay Lown, international territory manager for Astec Underground, which manufactures large trenching and drilling equipment for pipelines and other heavy machinery, is hoping a lot of business will come out of Project Libya.

"People in Libya couldn't have been nicer, and everything was very well managed," he said.