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Libyan foreign minister begins landmark trip to London

PLA Daily 2004-02-10

LONDON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Foreign Minister Rahman Mohammed Shalgam began a landmark trip to London on Monday, the first to Britain by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969.

"He (Shalgam) is coming this evening," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

Shalgam was expected to hold talks on bilateral relations and Libya's commitment to scrap its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Tuesday morning. He would also meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday.

Shalgam's visit to London, the first high-level meeting between Britain and Libya after Tripoli announced last December that Libya would dismantle its WMD capabilities, follows talks last week between US and Libyan officials reportedly focused on the possibility of easing US sanctions on the North African country.

Britain had been deeply involved in negotiations that secured Libya's pledge to give up its banned weapons after nearly a year of secret talks between Libya, the United States and Britain.

According to the Foreign Office, during Shalgam's visit, Libya and Britain would seek to improve political, commercial and cultural ties, find ways to boost cooperation on tackling terrorism and to help Libya down the path of reform.

Shalgam's visit would be "a milestone in what have been steadily improving relations," the Foreign Office said.

"Our goal is to generally help Libya along the track to entering the international mainstream," Foreign Office director for the Middle East and North Africa Edward Chaplin told reporters last week.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman also told reporters earlier that the upcoming talks would also address outstanding "difficulties" between the two countries.

London hopes Shalgam's visit would help resolve the case of the1984 shooting of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was killed by a shot appeared to fire from a window of the Libyan Embassy in London during a protest.

According to British officials, Libya has failed to cooperate fully with the investigation into the murder.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed in 1984 due to the row over Fletcher's killing and restored in 1999 after Libya agreed to hand over two suspects related with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.