In the first visit since cutting relations, British foreign office secretary in Tripoli

The British minister of state for the foreign office Mike O Brian started on Tuesday an official visit to Libya that lasts for three days. A visit which is the first of its kind since 20 years.

The BBC said that the visit will concentrate on discussing bilateral relations which were severed between the two countries since 1984 after London accused the Libyan officials of security violations in Britain.

The British minister told reporters that his visit aims at improving relations with Libya and finding out joint cooperation means in the international campaign against terrorism.

He said that his visit falls in the framework of a continuous operation since four years resulted in achieving progress concerning Lockerbie file following Tripoli's good cooperation to this effect.

News reports expected the British minister to hold bilateral talks with the Libya's Leader of the Revolution Colonel Muammar al Qathafi. However this was not officially confirmed. The news reports indicated that the visit reflects the gradual improvement on relations between the two countries since Tripoli in 1998 approved to hand over the two Libyans accused in the Lockerbie incident to an international court for trial.

British sources ruled out the Libyan- British talks would deal with the issue of compensations requested by families of Lockerbie victims.