- "Yes, Americans came to Libya to work inside the Belgian embassy," today confirmed Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam during a press conference in London, adding that Libya was preparing an embassy in Washington. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister said he soon hoped to meet with Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi.
Foreign Minister Chalgam currently is on an official visit to the UK, where he today met with British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and PM Blair. The visit - described by the British Foreign Office as a "milestone in what have been steadily improving relations" - was the first of a Libyan Foreign Minister to the UK since 1969.
While Libya noted a full breakthrough in its relations with Britain already last month, US-Libyan ties are still limited. Washington still imposes sanctions on trade with Tripoli, seriously hurting the Libyan oil industry, and so far the two countries have had no diplomatic representation in each other's capitals.
Mr Chalgam today however announced that US diplomats have now come to Tripoli and are establishing a US diplomatic office at the premises of the Belgian embassy. Further, Mr Chalgam said, "America, according to what we have learned, will reduce the measures preventing US citizens from entering Libya." This would represent a first step in reducing current US sanctions against Libya.
Mr Chalgam's announcements in London were widely confirmed by the US State Department later today. Richard Boucher, Spokesman of the Department, said that "we do have people in Tripoli now. We have one officer there temporarily. But I think for the first time now in a long time, we've got an American officer who's been assigned to Tripoli and who was accredited under their protecting power, Belgium." Belgium has maintained an Interests Section for the US in Tripoli since 1980.
According to Mr Boucher, the US State Department's officer in Tripoli was in the Libyan capital "to facilitate the efforts of the US experts on weapons of mass destruction who are assisting Libya in its efforts to eliminate all elements of the nuclear weapons and missile programs." The spokesman however added that the Department now expected to have diplomats in Tripoli "on a regular and ongoing basis as that work proceeds."
In London, Foreign Minister Chalgam added that Libya was already working on plans to open a Washington representation. "Libyans will go to America to work in the Libyan interests section there," said the Libyan Minister. The US Spokesman, Mr Boucher, however said he did not know anything about any "Libyan interests section" in the US.
Also regarding the lifting of US sanctions against Libya, Mr Boucher still did not want to go into details. Washington was currently "looking at various things," said the Spokesman. He named travel restrictions, transactions and economic restrictions as the focus of these current discussions, but maintained that "here are no decisions or announcements to make at this stage."
While Washington still is restrictive in its slow reconciliation with Tripoli, Minister Chalgam enjoyed a full recovery of ties while in London. Britain restored its diplomatic relations with Libya already in 1999, but recent agreements to pay compensations to the families of victims of Libyan terrorism attacks have led to a total restoration of Libya's ties with the UK, France and the European Union.
In London, Minister Straw promised to "develop further our political, cultural and commercial ties, help Libya in their aim of reconstructing their economy and to cooperate in tackling terrorism." Mr Chalgam answered by calling the talks "a real breakthrough in our bilateral relations."
During the Libyan Minister's meeting with British PM Tony Blair, there had also been talks regarding a possible UK-Libyan summit. Mr Blair after the meeting said he hoped to meet Colonel Ghaddafi "as soon as convenient." No date had however been fixed yet, the British PM added.
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