BRITAIN: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, could meet Col Gadafy of Libya in Tripoli later this year following "historic" talks in London yesterday marking the dramatically improved relationship between the two countries.
There were signs that the British Foreign Office would like to see such a meeting taking place within six months, although Mr Blair's official spokesman said no date had been arranged and insisted it was important to take matters "step by step".
However, a face-to-face encounter with the leader of what was previously considered a "rogue state", counted by President Bush as part of his famous "axis of evil", was firmly in prospect after Mr Mohammed Abdulrahman Shalgam became the first Libyan foreign minister to hold cabinet-level talks in London in more than 20 years.
A plainly delighted Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said Mr Shalgam's visit was indeed "historic" and "tangible proof of the improving relations between Libya and the United Kingdom."
In fact this was the latest stage in a careful diplomatic choreography which had led to December's surprise announcement that Libya would rid itself of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Mr Straw said this "courageous step" had opened the way "to Libya's reintegration into the international community" and "showed, too, that problems of proliferation can, with good will, be tackled through discussion and engagement."
Mr Straw and Mr Shalgam - who had a brief separate meeting with Mr Blair at Downing Street - said they would continue to seek progress on remaining difficulties between their two countries. And they announced their agreement on "enhanced" co-operation in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues relating to the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.
The shots which killed WPC Fletcher are believed to have come from inside the embassy, and the outrage led to Britain breaking off diplomatic links.
Libya accepted "general responsibility" for WPC Fletcher's killing in 1999 and agreed to compensate her family. And Mr Straw said he hoped her relatives and those of people who died in incidents such as the Lockerbie bombing could accept it was "in everybody's interest" for relations to be normalised.
However, the Metropolitan Police Federation insisted Libya still had "blood on its hands" over the killing and argued that there must be no normalisation of relations with Libya until it had handed over those responsible for the murder of Yvonne Fletcher."