Libya has successfully courted firms from Qatar and Switzerland to upgrade the port of Misrata, with officials saying the partnership — valued at an expected $2.7 billion — represents the largest non-oil infrastructure investment in the country since 2011.

What we know: The Misrata Free Zone, a commercial hub and port in the eponymous Mediterranean city that handles the majority of the country’s non-oil trade, said it signed a partnership on Sunday with the Qatari investment firm Maha Capital Partners and Terminal Investment Limited, a subsidiary of the Swiss shipping giant MSC, with the goal of modernizing the zone's port. The deal aims to increase the port’s capacity to 4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up from 685,000 TEUs in 2025, by upgrading relevant infrastructure, like berths and yards, and digitizing operating systems, the official Libyan News Agency reported. 

Upgrading the berths and yards would allow the port to accommodate more ships and cargo. 

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani attended the signing ceremony on Sunday, along with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.