Shalgam handed Blair a personal message from Gaddafi (AFP)

LONDON, February 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Tuesday, February 10, with visiting Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam in the highest-level contact between the two nations for more than 20 years.

Shalgam handed Blair a personal letter from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi but the bulk of the issues to be addressed during the milestone visit were left for Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoting officials.

Following talks with Shalgam, Straw said that Blair would visit Libya "as soon as convenient".

"We are hoping very much that a visit can be arranged as soon as convenient, but no date has yet been fixed."

Straw hailed his counterpart's visit -- the first by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969 -- as "a historic trip" and described their one-on-one meeting as "very useful".

"It is tangible proof of the improved relations between Libya and the U.K.," he told reporters.

"We have agreed this morning that the cooperation to resolve the outstanding issues related the murder of woman police constable Yvonne Fletcher will be enhanced and we are also encouraging Libya to move forward in the area of human rights," Straw added.

"We can now believe establish a fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship."

Shalgam said Libya had all the means to make WMD but willingly chose not to because.

"We never decided to produce such weapons. We have had the equipment, we have had the material and the know-how and the scientists. We never decided to produce such weapons," he asserted.

"To have flour, water and fire doesn't mean you have bread," Shalgam said.

The trip marks a major step in bilateral relations since Tripoli pledged in December to give up its weapons of mass destruction programs and follows two decades of frozen relations with London.

Ties were shattered in 1984 when Fletcher was sot dead from inside the Libyan embassy in London as she monitored a Libyan opposition demonstration in the street outside.

Four years later a U.S. airliner was downed by a bomb over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people.

Tripoli and London formally re-established diplomatic relations in 1999 after Libya agreed to hand over two Libyans involved in the Lockerbie bombing.

Libya eventually accepted civil responsibility and agreed to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to families of the victims, paving the way for the U.N Security Council to lift long-running economic sanctions on the country.

U.S. Diplomats In Tripoli   

"Yes, Americans came to Libya to work inside the Belgian embassy in the U.S. interests section in Libya" said Shalgam (R)

Shalgam, for his part, seized on the press conference to reveal that the U.S. has re-established a diplomatic presence in Libya.

"Yes, Americans came to Libya to work inside the Belgian embassy in the U.S. interests section in Libya and Libyans will go to America to work in the Libyan interests section there," Reuters quoted him as telling the joint press conference.

"We presently have one U.S. diplomat in Tripoli to assist the U.S. WMD [weapons of mass destruction] experts," he said.

The United States and Libya never severed diplomatic relations, but until the arrival of the U.S. diplomat in Tripoli, Belgian diplomats had staffed the interests section, Reuters said.

Shalgam also revealed that the United States would ease travel restrictions on U.S. citizens visiting his country, though the country remains on Washington's list of countries supporting terrorism.

Last week the U.S. hailed Tripoli's "excellent progress" in dismantling the weapons following talks in London between Libyan government representatives and officials from the United States and Britain.

However, the U.S. refused last December to ease diplomatic pressure on Libya, warning its long-time foe there was a long way to go before normalizing ties.

In January, President George W. Bush renewed U.S. sanctions on Libya for another six months.

Berlusconi In Libya

Also Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was due to hold talks in Tripoli with Gaddafi, becoming the first major western leader to visit the oil-rich state in decades.

Berlusconi flew into Sirte, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Tripoli, on a visit due to last a few hours, saying that "the past is far behind" and that Italy was a friend of Libya and "wishes to remain so".

Berlusconi, who was greeted on his arrival by Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem, was expected to discuss international disarmament with his hosts as well as bilateral questions such as damages sought by Libya for a decade of Italian occupation before and during World War II and an estimated 850 million euros ($1.08 billion) owed by Libya to around 100 Italian companies.