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The
United States will this week lift economic sanctions on Libya,
opening the door for US companies to bid for oil contracts, a
British newspaper reported Tuesday.
Citing US officials and diplomatic sources, the Financial Times
business daily said Washington was to announce as early as
Wednesday that it would end the sanctions dating from 1986, which
have barred US companies from commerce with Libya.
The United States will also remove Libya from the Iran-Libya
Sanctions Act, which allowed Washington to penalise foreign oil
companies investing in the oil sector in either country, the
newspaper added.
However, the United States will not take the final step sought by
Tripoli -- its removal from Washington's list of state sponsors of
terrorism. That was likely to be delayed until after the US
presidential elections in November, an unnamed official told the
Financial Times.
Libya opened a new page in international relations when it agreed
in December following talks with the United States and Britain to
abandon its quest for weapons of mass destruction.
Relations began to improve last year after Libya agreed to pay
compensation worth 2.7 billion dollars (2.3 billion euros) over the
December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 108 over Lockerbie,
southwest Scotland, which killed 270 people.
A Libyan agent was imprisoned in Scotland after being convicted of
carrying out the attack - Sapa-AFP.
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