Japan, Libya agree to step up efforts to improve ties - Kyodo, February 23
Japan and Libya agreed Wednesday to step up efforts to improve ties following Libya's handover last April of two suspects in the 1988 Pan Am jetliner bombing, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
The agreement was reached during a 30-minute meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and Libyan Economy and Trade Secretary Abd al-Hafiz Zilitni, the official told reporters.
Zilitni, who arrived Sunday in Tokyo for a five-day visit, is the first Libyan cabinet-level official to visit Japan in 15 years.
'We highly appreciate the fact that Libya has sent a clear message of its policy change, leading to strengthening economic ties with Japan and encouraging Japanese investment,' Kono was quoted as telling Zilitni.
The handover of the suspects to the United Nations for trial under Scottish law has led the U.N. Security Council to suspend the economic and air embargoes it imposed on Libya in 1992 and 1993.
Zilitni called for 'activating bilateral relations,' and proposed the two nations become 'partners under Libya's ongoing programs for developing its economy, particularly in the oil field, and helping other African nations develop,' the official said.
Since the suspension of U.N. sanctions, Japan, European nations and other developed countries have shown interest in oil development projects in Libya, which produces high-quality petroleum that can be used in jet fuel.
Zilitni told Kono that Tripoli will soon dispatch an ambassador to its embassy in Japan for the first time since 1980s, the official said.
Japan sent an ambassador to its embassy in Tripoli late last year.
Japan recognized Libya in 1957 and established the embassy in 1973. But relations soured after the U.N. imposed economic sanctions on Libya in 1992 over the bombing of a Pan American Airways flight. |
