Posted on 01/05/2005 8:37:29 AM PST by Lukasz
Polish PM seeking to revive his country’s once lucrative economic ties with Libya.
TRIPOLI - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi hailed a fresh start in relations with Warsaw Wednesday after talks with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka, who is seeking to revive their once lucrative economic ties.
Kadhafi told reporters after meeting Belka in a Bedouin tent adjacent to his Bab Al-Aziziya palace in the Libyan capital that there were now "great prospects to re-establish cooperation with Poland".
"In the past, we cooperated very closely and now we will resume this cooperation and can work together not only on the bilateral level but also in Africa," Kadhafi said.
Belka, the latest European leader to visit Libya since Kadhafi announced it was abandoning its drive for weapons of mass destruction, was accompanied by a large delegation from the Polish oil industry.
Poland is eager to rebuild the close trade ties it had with Libya in the 1970s and 1980s when Warsaw was under communist rule.
In those two decades, some 130,000 Poles worked in Libya on road and rail development projects and many Libyans pursued their studies in Poland.
Belka told journalists later that Libya was interested in transforming its chemicals industry, once committed to weapons building.
"We want to help the Libyans to convert this sector into a civilian industry," Belka said, adding that he had also discussed regional conflicts with Kadhafi including Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Foreign ministry officials said ahead of the trip that Poland was anxious to diversify its sources of gas and oil supplies and that Libya was a key a potential partner.
The two countries are also trying to resolve the question of Poland's 30-million-dollar debt to Libya, which dates from the 1970-1980s.
Poland, the most populous of 10 new countries to join the European Union last May, is also taking part in overall steps launched in 2004 to rebuild Libyan-EU relations.
You see, Poland will help with demilitarization of Libya. Don’t worry, be happy :)
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