Bush, Blair to visit Libya next year
US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will visit Libya next year, it was reported on Wednesday.
“The British premier will visit Tripoli at the beginning of next year, followed by a visit by US President George Bush,” Libyan Leader Muammar al-Qadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam told the Asharq al-Awsat daily.
“I foresee (the Bush visit) happening after the lifting of US sanctions which I believe should happen within three months at most,” he told the London-based newspaper by telephone from Tripoli.
Libya has won praise from the international community, including longtime foes London and Washington, after it said last week it was renouncing efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Blair described the announcement, which followed nine months of secret talks between Libya and Britain and the United States, as “courageous” and “historic”.
On Tuesday, Libya’s official JANA news agency reported that
Foreign Minister Abd al-Rahman Shalgam had received an invitation from his British counterpart Jack Straw to visit London.
The agency said Straw had telephoned Shalgham to congratulate him on Libya’s decision to renounce its nuclear programme and to invite him to London.