Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi said on Friday that his country seeks ”friendship” with the United States and that the time for confrontation with the superpower has passed, according to comments aired on official television.
”We need friendship with the US. America equally needs us and its oil companies can now work in Libya. It’s time for reciprocal interests and not confrontation,” Gadaffi said at an official ceremony in Syrte, 500km from Tripoli.
Last month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conferred with her Libyan counterpart, Abd al-Rahman Shalgam, in New York and said the two one-time foes were on a fast track towards better ties.
”We have had a very good discussion of a path toward Libyan-US relations that will lead us to better and better relations between our people, between our governments,” Rice told reporters on the sidelines of the current General Assembly session.
Diplomatic relations between Washington and Tripoli were restored in June last year after a 24-year rupture following the Libyan leader’s surprise announcement the previous December that he was giving up the quest for weapons of mass destruction.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near-Eastern Affairs David Welch travelled to Tripoli last June.
On Friday, Gadaffi kept up the diplomatic momentum, calling on all Libyans to ”open up to the world” and turn the page on years of international isolation.
Gadaffi, who came to power in 1969, also stressed the importance of the country’s oil industry, saying that increased oil revenues are improving the living conditions of ordinary Libyans. — Sapa-AFP