Relations between the US and Libya showed a new sign of thawing this week, with a top US diplomat visiting the country to lay the grounds for a possible trip by State Secretary Condoleezza Rice.

Assistant secretary of state David Welch, in charge of Middle East affairs, began his two-day visit on Tuesday and Rice's potential visit topped the agenda.

"This visit is very important because it lays the ground for another important visit by Secretary Rice next month," Libya's deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Sayalah, was quoted as saying.

If Rice travels to Libya, it would be the first visit by the acting US secretary of state to the North African country in 54 years.

Libya's relations with the West, and US in particular, have improved in recent years, after the country agreed to pay compensations to the families of Lockerbie victims and gave up its stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

They took a turn for the better last month, after Libya freed six Bulgarian medics imprisoned for eight years on charges of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with the HIV virus.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!