Bush sends senior US diplomat to Libya in thaw

By Staff
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WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) US President George W Bush has dispatched to Libya the highest-ranking diplomat to visit the North African nation since Tripoli gave up key arms programs in 2003, the State Department said today.

Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky will lead a US delegation on a four-day trip to the OPEC member, the department said in a statement.

US officials said the visit, which begins on Monday, will address largely non-controversial issues such as scientific cooperation and how to deal with avian flu, but is symbolic of improving ties.

''This reflects our willingness -- as a result of the changes they have made -- to move forward on the kinds of issues where we can cooperate,'' said a State Department official who requested anonymity.

Dobriansky has a rank that is in the fourth-highest category of officials at the State Department, although she rarely deals with the toughest challenges in U.S. foreign policy, as she focuses on areas such as education.

In recent months, the United States has restored full diplomatic ties with the previously pariah nation and has established an embassy in Tripoli to reward Libya for dismantling its weapons of mass destruction programs.

As part of the rapprochement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has met her counterpart, but before this week only relatively low-ranking officials have visited Libya.

While ties have improved, the nations have thorny problems to resolve, including a payment to relatives of victims of an airliner bombing that Libya took responsibility for and the release of foreign medics in a conviction Washington says was flawed, the officials said.

REUTERS PDS RAI0227

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