Austrian National Day

 Finally we could celebrate our national day. Actually it is on 26 October, but on that day Eid Kebir was celebrated in Libya, so it had to be done on another date.
Last thursday Ambassador Hörlberger and his wife invited approx. 200 persons to the Mahari Hotel Radisson in Tripoli.
And many followed the invitation, making it a memorable evening.




However, first we needed to get over the obstacle of getting the flag right. It needed some explanation how to put it.
Maybe after "Felix" jumped from outer space, hotel staff thought that our national "bird", the eagle, also had to be upside down. "Same same like Felix".
Luckily I could convince them that not all of us come upside down.

 Asma Khalifa, from the Libya Youth Center acted as our translator - not the first time. And as usual, she did a very nice job.
Oh, yes, the strapline for our national day was being "surprisingly ingenious" - the new slogan for our foreign trade organisation "Advantageaustria" (www.advantageaustria.org)

We sould not miss out on Austrian sweets. Generous support of Austrian companies that export their products to Libya, such as: Manner, Rauch, Spitz, Pago, Pfanner, Red Bull made it possible that guests could taste a wide variety of products.

We felt especially honored that many high level politicians such as outgoing Ministers Hamroush (Health) and Tarbel (Youth and Sports), on picture, or new Ministers (such as Abdulaziz) and Members of Parliament attended our national day.
Also remarkable is the fact that so many Libyans attended. During the last few years this group was a minority. And most of the people who came were already known, because they attended all national days and were either very close to the regime, or reporting in one way or the other.