ILF President Basit Igtet Speaks to Arabian Business about Libya's economic path
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FIRST WORDAND.. BHOYRUL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Don 't le t L ibya to lo~ Iraq 's econom ic pat,h,
Itas only been three months since
the death ofthe former Libyan
leader Colonel Gaddafi, Nobodyquite believed the media reports at
the time - and nobody would ever
have believed that just three months on,a UABdelegation of over 100 business
leaders would be landing inTripoll t<]
begin talks with new Libyan leaders onhow best to rebuild the war-torn nation.
Alot has happened in a very short spaceoftime, most ofit positive. Our chief
reporter Shane McGinleywas on the first
Etihad Airwaysflight into Tripoli lastweek, and his special report from Libya
starts on page 28.What struck Shane, and
forthat matter most people who havebeen to Libya post-Gaddafi, isjust how
bad things are. Mass poverty. Crumbling
infrastructure. Failing services. Hugeunemployment. Dwindling education
standards. Itmakes you realise just how
spectacular a job Gaddafi had done ofruining his own country. especially when
you consider Libya had a GOP close tomost European nations, and the world's
ninth largest oil reserves.Little wonder some of the UAE'sbiggest
business leaders were keen to be on the
first Etihad flight there. Libya needs $8bnofinvestment just to rebuild its airports.
Add to that the oil and gasproduction
and seaports, education, technology andhealth services, and you are soon talking
about numbers well over $50bn.Alongside Qatar, the UABis wellplaced
to strike good deals. Both countriesofficiallyrecognised the Libyan rebels asthe official government ofthe country
long before Gaddafi was toppled, so thereisno shortage of goodwill.
But goodwill on its own won't be
enough. Just look at Iraq - it's beenmore than eight years since the US
invasion and over a trillion dollars hasbeen pumped into the country but
its economy ishardly worth shouting
~ Land of p rom is e: Th e Ub ya n p eop le need to se e signs of ~ Ulree IIlOtJttI$IIfter the fal l of Gaddafl.
about. Nearly a quarter oflraqis are
still living below the poverty line, Whileunemployment is at fifteen percent-
including one millionpeople under theage of34.The country still only manages
to generate 60percent ofthe 15,000
megawatts of electricity needed per day,while 25percent ofBaghdad's residents
are without clean-water.
The lesson ofpost-war Iraq wasthat the decision making process was
flawed - nobody really took charge.and corruption was quickly rife.And
everything took just too long to bappen(or just never happened).The UAEcurrently has $2hn of
investments inLibya and is hoping
to quickly turn that into $5bn.Will it
happen? AsMashreq boss Abdul AzizAI
Ghurair, also on the Tripoli trip, told us:"If it turns out to be a very slowprocess
then UAEcompanies will go somewhere,else.Wecan wait a year or two but we
can't wait ten years for a country to
open up to business. Ihink Libya is
at a crossroads. Wewere alloptimisticwith Iraq at the liberation time and
we thought Iraq was a goldmine and
everybody was preparing to go to-Iraq
but itis almost many years, sixyears
since and nothing has happened in Iraq.Veryfew companies inIraq were able to
goand set up business there."
He couldn't be more right. The very factthat the UAEbusiness leaders were in
Tripoli within three months ofGaddafi's
death is a sign that countries are keen to
move fast. Just as importantly, the Libyanpeople quickly need to see signs ofprogress. The europhria of the revolution
will only last another couple ofmonths,
after which progress must be seen tohappen. So far the signs arethatUbya
won't turn into another Iraq. But thenext twelve months will also determine
whether itwill become the oasis of
opportunity that Gulf companies areexpecting it to. IE
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COUNTRY REPORT LIBYA
AsLibya's temporarygovernment looks to get thecountry back on its feet after
the fall of its iconic ruler, theUAEled a IOO-strong delegationto the country to assess therequirements andopportunities.
B¥ SIlANE MCGINLEY
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------------"----_ _
-------------------------------------------------------------------LIBYA CODNTRY1\EPORT
DR IV IN G T HR Ol JG H ?R IP _O LI 'S L UN CH TI ME
tra ffic w ith a p olic e esc ort, it 's n ot
d if fi cu lt t o s ee w hy Libyans became
so d ise nch an ted w ith th eir f orm er
leader an d self ap po in ted 'K in g o f
K in gs '. Th e ro ad s a re s tre wn w it h c ra ck s a nd
po th o le s, t he b u il di ng s h a ve a m a ss p ro d uc ed
1 96 0s u glin ess a bo ut th em , t he ca rs stu ck in
g ri dl ocked t ra f fi c j am s a r e a pa tchwork mix of
ru sted c olo urs an d th e en tire c ity is c ov ered
i n a la ye r o f r u bb is h.
B efore the onset o f the A rab Spring,
w h ic h a ls o c la im e d l ea de rs i n n ei gh b ou r -
i ngEgyp t a nd 'I un is ia , L i byawa s r e ga rde das o ne o f t he ric hest c ou nt rie s inNorth
A frica , 'W ith a G DP p er cap ita o n a p ar
with s om e E as te rn E u ro pe an n at io ns .
D espite holding the world's ninth
L arg est o il rese rve s, f ew o f t h e b illio ns o f
petrodolla rs trickled down to the aver-
age L ibyan on the stree t. U nder Colonel
M u amm ar G ad da fi, y ou th u ne mp lo ym en t
insom e parts of the country rose as h igh
as 50 p ercen t, average h ou sin g w as o f a lo w
stan dard an d edu catio n levels w ere lo wer
th an t ho se in T un isia , w hic h h as little o il.
W ith the du st still se ttling on the new
c aret ak er g ov ern me nt p ut in p la ce a ft er th e
r evo lu t ion , Abu Dhab i c a rr ie r E t ih a dA l cways
earlier in th e m on th m ade its m aiden f ligh t
b ack to llip oli an d b ro ugh t w ith it a de le ga-
tio n f ro m th e U A E. L e ad in g th e 1 00 -stro ng
g ro u p o f b u s in es s l ea de rs d own t he re d carpe t
was UAEMin i st e r o f S t at e f o rFeder al Na t iona l
Counci l Af f a ir s Dr Anwa r Ga rga s h.
"1 t hink Ubya is basica lly in a stage of
r eb irt h," h e observes, The ru bble tha t lays
o ver th e rem ain s o f B ab A IAziziya, Gadaff i 's
form er com pound and the site of a f ierce
b attle in th e f in al st ag es o f th e c iv il war, is a
c le ar e xa mp le o f t h e c ha ng es t ak in g p la ce .
D u rin g t he c iv il war, th e U A Ewas one of a
n umb er o f G u lf s ta te s t ha t p ro vid ed m ilit arys up po rt d ur in g t he UN -im p os ed n o-f ly z on e.
W h en t he r eb el f ig ht er s t oo k c on tro l, t he UAE
w as the second A rab cou ntry - after Qatar
- to recognise the new governm ent as the
o nly l eg it im at e r ep re se nt at iv e o f t he L ib ya n
people .
W it h t he c ou n tr y lo ok in g t o r eb u ild it se lf ,
t he UAEi s h o p in g c lo se t ie s b et we en t he t wo
countr ies will lea d to a slew o f co mmercial
opportuni t ies .
"W hen w e su pp orted th e L ib yan p eo ple
th e c omm erc ia l [in te rests] o f th e DAEw ere
th e last th in gs o n ou r m in d. D ill decisio n to
su pport the L ibyan people was a hu mani-tarian p olitical decisio n an d I do n't th in k
that su pport w as in an y w ay tied to fu tu re
comme rc ia l i n te re s ts ," s a ys Ga rga sh .
"O ur d ecis ion to su pp ort
th e L ib yan p eo ple was a
human ita ria n p o litic al
d ec is io n a nd Idon' tth ink that support w as
in any w ay tied to fu tu re
comme rc ia l in te re sts "
" Th is i s a p er io d w he re Libyawill n eed th e
c oo pe ra tio n o f a l l c o un tr ie s a nd t he s up po rt
o f all f rien ds. W e are f rien ds o f L i by a an d w e
hope to play ou r p art. I think it is ou r du ty to
try a nd m ak e so me th in g t ha t is c omm erc ia l
a nd b e a ble to b e m u tu ally b en ef icia l f or o ur
L ib y an p ar tn e rs a nd f or o u rs el ve s. "
W ith a h ost o f h ig h p ro file U AE b u sin ess-
m en inh is en to urag e, in clu din g S ult an B in
S ulay em , c hairm an o fD ub ai p ort s o pe ra to r
D P W orld , a nd A bd ul A ziz A l G h u ra ir, C EO
of M ashreq bank, G argash says the U AE is
eager to help the new governm ent m ake u p
f or t im e lo st d urin g m ore t han f ou r d eca des
o f G a dd af i r u le .
"W e h av e in ve st me nt a pp et it e a nd in ve st -
m en t cap acity an d w e w ant to p ut this in o ur
trad itio na l a re as. O u r tra ditio nal area s are
o il an d gas, to urism , p orts, avia tio n an d, o f
cour se, t e lecommuntea t ions ,
"W e ho pew e are ab le to h ave an in pu t in to
t he se t h in g s. N a tlU al ly .w e , a s a g ove rnm e nt ,
p er ha ps h elp illt he d ir ec tio n b u t t he p riv at e
co mp an ies n eed to reach w hat is a feasib le
c omme rc ia l d ea l, " s ay s G a rg as h.
D ub ai -b ased b usin essm an A bd ul Aziz AI
Ghura i r s ays "cur ren t ly the re isab ou t $ 2b n in
in vest men t in lib ya f ro m th e Em irat es," b ut
h e is c on fid en t t hi s will increa se drama tical ly
in t he s ho rt -t er m, " I think it will g r ow . I e xpe c t
$ 5 bn i s d o ab le within f iv e y e ars f or t he UAE."T hese c omm erc ial in teres ts a re a lrea dy
b eg in nin g to tak e sh ap e, w ith th e lu crat iv e
o il secto r th e o bvio us f irst p ort o f c all. T wo
y ea rs a go A I G hu ra ir 's D ub ai-b as ed f am ily
f irm e st ab li sh e d t he L ib y an Em i ra ti R e fi ni ng
C om pany, a jo in t ven tu re with the L ibyan
Na ti ona l O i lCo r po ra t ion , ina b id t o o pe ra te
th e R as Lanu f oi l r e fine ry .
L i bya 's l ar ge s t r ef in e ry , Ras La nu t , w h ic h
accou nts for arou nd half o f the cou ntry 's
t o ta l o i l r e f in i ng ca pa c it y , will re sum e o u tp u t
w ith in "the next few m onths" and there are
plans afoo t to nearly double the cu rren t
capaci ty, says AIGhura i r ."W e a re looking to expand to dou ble the
c ap ac it y. O n ce w e h av e t he e xp an sio n p la n w e
s ho u ld b e d o in g 400 ,0 00 b ar re ls . .. T h e e xp an -
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COUNTRYREPORTUBYA
sion will take four years," he says.
The Has Lanuf deal was first proposed in
2006 and AI Ghurair says the Transitional
National Council has been much easier to
deal with than Gaddafi's regime.
"[With Gaddafil it was a single man's
decision. There was no process. You didn't
have institutions when you dealt with him.
When you deal with an individual it depends
on his mood. 1thirik the current government
is much fairer and much more transparent
and we expect to conclude this deal on
commercial terms."
While AI Ghurair is quietly confident, he
says UABcompanies are not prepared towait
forever and their experience inIraq has shown
that the impetuous needs to be grasped
quickly before Libya'smoment passes. "Ihope
they learn and there is enough pressure on
everybody to speed up rebuildlingthe country.
Ifthey sort out their issues Ithink you will seea lot of Emirates coming here.
"If i t turns out to be a veryslowprocess then
UAE companies will go somewhere else.We
can wait a year or two but we can't wait ten
years for a country to open up to business.
"1think. Libya is at a crossroads. We were
all optimistic with Iraq at th'i0iberation
time and we thought Iraqwas a goldnnine
and everybody was preparing to go to Iraq
but it is almost many years, six years since
and nothing has happened in Iraq. Veryfew
companies in Iraq were able to go and set
up business there. The decision making has
been slow so investors from the Emirates arelooking somewhere else."
On the global stage, the UABis known as a
prornlnent player in the seaport and airport
sectors, both of which factor heavily in the
Gulf state's plans for Libya.
It is therefore no surprise that prominent
among the top table during the reception
in Tripoli for the UAE delegation is Sultan
Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman ofDPWorld.
"We are coming onan exploratory mission.
We are interested in Libyan ports and we've
been in touch with them in the past," Bin
Sulayem says. "And now that there is a new
government in Libya we want to know whatthe Libyan side wants so we can prepare
ourselves to coop emte with them."
At present the Libyan interim government
is only in talks wnh potential partners ahead
ofan elected government being put inplace,
but its current representatives are eager to
interact with UAEprivate fums.
"We do need to have to share the experi-
ence of others ill the form of strategic part-
ners, especially in managing seaports. I am - UAEMin i s t e r of s t a t e for Federa l NatIonal C o u n c I l Affairs D r A n w a r Garpsh .
"Now that there is a newg ov emment in L ib ya w e
wan t to know what theL ibyan s ide want s so w e
can p rep ar e ou rse lv es tocoop erate w ith them "
needs to invest millions of dollars to get the
port's collapsed platforms and otberfacilities
back into shape. Maintenance work has not
been done for years.
"We are not asking for extra money," said
Adel AITorni, 43, an administrative clerk
who has been working at the port for fifteen
years. "We want the company to take care
of the port."
Within. the aviation sector, ElUheshi says
Libya needs around $8bn in investment to
fund the rebuilding ofits airports. "Wewantto
restart the sooner the better ... I twon't be less
than $8bn for the aviation industry," he says.
Around $6bn ofthis will go towards the new
'Irlpoll International Allport, FadlAhmad Ibn
Nusaira, the airport's deputy commandant,
tells Arabian Bus iness , and he isconfident the
UABwill help contribute to this. "Inthe next
open totalk.with anybody who can conclude
a fair agreement," says Yousef El Uheshi,
Libyan Minister ofTransport.
The country's ports, battered from the
impact oflast year's civil war and decades of
neglect, are inneed of urgent attention, as
hlghlighted earlier in the month when port
workers in'llipoli went on strike overworking
conditions. Workers say the new government
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--------~-.~----------------LIBYA COUNTRY REPORT
... A bd uIA z iz A l B bm aIr .C E O, M a sh mq bank .
twoyears itwill be finished.We are looking forUAB [investment] ,"he says.
The recent relaunch of Etihad Airways'
route to Tripoli is an example of this
12 investment and Gargash says the return of
~ UAE carrier to the country isa positive step
g , but he wants to build further on this and
j =;~~ther operators to follow Etihad's
~ "The flights are arteries for frequency of
:;E exchanges. This is the first step and we areSfi lookiogformanymoreflightsfromtheubyan
"" side and our side and this is extremelyirnpor-
iant, ..Idon't speak for Emirates butl do hope
6theyrestart, Ihopewe have asmany flights as
Ii: economically feasible," he says.
~ The Etihad service is the only direct
~ commercial flight between the UAE and
~ libya's capital city, but the Abu Dhabi-based
operator is looking to increase its service todaily as soon as possible, says Ahmed Bin
MohamedAl Suwaidi, head of security and
government relations at Etihad. "We should
build a bridge in relations between the two
nations ... For the time being itwill only be
three flights a week, we hope to increase it to
seven."
In addition to oil and gas, aviation and
seaport investment, Gargash says there are
many other ways the UAE hopes to tap into
"W e have many , ma ny
exper i ences no t business-re lated . W e want to talkto th e L ibyans about th etransfer o f knowledge"
" . Ub y a 's ports, b a : t I : e n ! d from
tIie impact of last yeats civi l war
an d d e c : a d e s - o f neg lect . a re In
n e e d of urgent ~on.
Ubya's future potential. "Wehave many. manyexperiences not business- related. We want
to talk to the Libyans about the transfer of
knowledge."
One possibility on the table is training
Ubya's police officers and security forces. "We
do have that experience. we have trained in
Iraq, we have trained in Afghanistan and we
have trained in many areas, but these are the
sort of conversations we will have," he adds.
Looking to the future, Gargash says he is
confidentUbyahasabrightfutureandbring~
ing it back into the fold is clearly top of the
agenda for many Arab League nations.
"Libya isstarting to take its rightful place.Libya's voice has been heard inmany of the
Arab League meetings and in much of the
regional politics and I think Libya has priori-
ties and these issues must take priority." r : ! l l
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COUNTRYREPORTLIBYA
Basit Igtet, president of the Independent LibyaFoundation, has a long family history of fighting forhuman rights and he is determined the rebuilcling of Libya
will be a success, but hewants it to be on Libyan terms,regardless of the agendas of those offering support.
B "lLUolE MCGINLI!<
WliBNYOU Aftl! SUFPEI\1NG ORIN NEED
of help you soon find out who
your real friends are, some-thing the new government in
Libya is clearly finding Out atthe moment as it looks around the world to
see who .....ill step up to the mark and help it
rebuild its economy and who are the good
Samaritans and who are the vultures.
The UAEgovernment this month sent a
delegation to Libya to assess the investmentoppornmities and the needs of the new
government, but stated that it flrsi and fore-most wanted tohelp the country get back on
its feet and any commercial benefits were anadded bonus.
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UBYACOUWTRYREPORT
.. .. N a t io n al T r ansi ti on al COunc il chairman M u sta ta A bd ul J aD i.
Bas it I gt et , p re sid en t o ft he I nd ep en de nt
libya Foundation (ILF), a n o n- pr of it m a ki ng
o rg an is at io n d ev el op ed b y s up po rt er s o f the
libyan people an d dedicated to t h e c re a ti o n
of an independent, unified and democr at ic
cou ntry , says he is inclined to believe the
UAE 's r u le rs b u t iss ce pt ic al o f s om e o th ers
t ha th av e b ee n quick t o o ff er s u pp o rt
"W e are n ot going to forget o ur friends,e sp eci all y t he Em ir at es . T he Em ira te s a t t he
b eg in al agwa sv er y d ea r: t he y s aid 'w e a re n ot
in te re st ed in y ou r b us in es s; w e are interested
,t 3 in a r ela ti on sh ip a s a human. '
O il " Ot he r c ou nt ri es t ha t h av e b ee n i nv olv ed
" " at t he b eg in nin g a nd ' started helping u s - a
'l G co un try e ve n v ery clo se to t he Em ira te s-'" w er e t ry in g t o n eg ot ia te w it h us deal s b e fo r e
! il giving us a ny h elp . W ew ere b le edin g a t this
~ tim e and itw as sad w hen y ou do n't have an y
~ choice and you are su ffering and you are sa d
id a bo u tt he p eo p le inf ro nt o f y o u, b ut y ou h av e
~ to deal with it."
§ W hile Igtet is not drawn into nam ing~ nam es, he is obviously m ore scathing and
-e s us pi ci ou s o f Qatarand t he ir t ru e i nt en si on s(.j
~ ins u pp o rt in g L i by a.
~ "Qatar, I k now this country inside ou t, I
._ T he N a t iG l la I T r a n si t io n al C o u n cI l hasaceused
Algeria of s up po rt in g M u amma r Gaddafi .
w as a developer in Q atar at the very begin-
ning. Qatar is d if fe re nt t o t he Em ir at es . T h ei ri nt er es t i s i n L i by a f o r s u r e b u t we a lway s h aveto be , from ou r p e rsp ec ti ve , careful who we
partner with.
"We ar e t h e b al co ny o fB u ro pe a nd t he g at e-
w a y o f A f ri ca .I a nn ot sa y so m et hin g to da y
bu t t i rnewi ll1e tu s know. Ev er yb o dy h as t he ir
ow n a ge nd a - th e E m ira te s, S au di orQatar ~
w e a re o nl yh um a n. B u tw h at .k in d o f v is io n: is
i t s h o rt - te rm o r l on g- te rm? Doesit add va lu e
t o om n at io na l v is io n? I t i s b ad t o ju dg e p eo pl e
in advance, bu t w e have to be c a re f u l. "
I gt et i smo r e scathingin his a t ti tu d e t oA lg e -
r ia , w hic h t he N at io na l Transitional Councila ccu se d o f s up po rtin g G add af ia nd h elp in g
h im to tra ff ic arm s in to t he co un try t hro ugh
it s t errito ry a nd sh elte rin g m em be rs of hi sfamily:·
"I t is a r el at io n sh ip b etw ee n g ov er nme n ts
and the rela tion ship doesn 't co unt. T hat is
how we look at it and w e learn from -th is
and we learn who is ou r friend and who is
o ur e nem y.
"W hen w e speak abou t enem y, we speak
abou t governments , n o t n a ti on s. A lg er ia , t he
g ov er nme n t n e ve r h ad r el at io n s to th e Libyan
n at io n a nd a lw ay s h a d r el at io ns t o G a dd af i ...
50 w e w er e a l it tl e d is ap po in te d," h e s ay s.The IL F i s a l re ad y a li gn in g i ts el fw it h s ome
big we st er n a ll ie s. Its base is inBr us se ls . s o it
c an d eve lop s t ro nge r links with t h e Eu rope an
U nio n a nd in F eb ru ary itwill h os t t he b oa rd '
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, I
COUNTRY BEPORT LIBYA
. .. . T h e I n d e p en d e n t Libya Foundat ion (Iif) is a nO l t -pn l fl t organisat ion dedlcated to tfIe ~ of an Independent. unified an d d e m o c : r . i t ic : Ub y a .
ofthe US-Libya Chamber ofCommerce, who
will tour the country on the invitation of the
National Transitional Council and will be thefirst official US-led business delegation into
libyasmcetheinstallmentofthelibyanCabi-
net on 19August.
In setting up the ILE Igtet is following in
a strong family tradition to support human
rights and he sees the struggle almost as
his birthright "When the revolution started
inFebruary 2011 I made a commitment to
myself to support it until the end. Iknew we
hada chance forfreedom but Ilso know free-
dom does not come without sacrifice.
"My father sacrificed his life for freedom
and human rights in Libya in the early years of
Gaddafi's regime as did his father, my grand-father, against Mussolini before him. The start
ofthis revolution was a clear call ofduty,itwas
my time to continue my family's long fight
against injustice."
But he doesn't see the ILF's work stop-
ping at the libyan borders, lgtet has experi-
ence around the world, especially in Sou th
America. and he believes Libya needs to
be an example to others that they do not
have to live under corrupt dictatorships
and there is an alternative.
"We believe our success inthe coming
months and years is not only important forlibya but also for our neighbours inAfrica
and other nations around the world, mostly
inSouth America, whose people are strug-
gling under oppressive regimes as oms did
for 42 years. We believewehave a duty to help
these people; tobe an example and aresource
to them as they too str ive to break free.
"We gained back our humanity and we
expressed ourselves c1earlythat we dontwant
to be belonged; we have our vision Libya
is a brand today; we want to brand it Itis a
shame. You see countries booming, but you
see people dying.
' 'We a re commit ted to
p ro te ctin g Ubya 's h ard
earn ed freed om and
honouring the human
sbugg le th e revolution
r epre sen t s"
"That is a shame ofhumanity. This move-
ment that happened in Libya, it is human-
ity standing back up .. _Wehave to help thismovement, wbichis why Ipeak about South
America.
'~we look forward to 2012 we have a lot
of work to do. This, the foundational devel-
opment of our nation, we believewill be our
most important work. This year we will seek
to accurately discover the true condition of
Libya as a nation. Wewill invest ourselves to
responsibly evaluate and prioritise the coun-
try's needs aswell as estimate its potentials
in order to provide the most effective and
ecological support in tbeyears to come.
"We are committed to protecting libya's
hard earned freedom and honouring thehuman struggle the revolution represents.
We also recognise that with this new earned
freedom comes great responsibility. We at
the IL F seek to honour this freedom, and the
many people who risked and sacrificed their
lives - both Libyans and those from France,
the UK , USAand Qatar amongst others- to
gain it by investing ourselves wholly inlibya
and working tirelessly to support the evolu-
tion oflibyan society." a m
34 AIlABIAN BUSINBSS IVOl ..13104