French- Libyan committee meets for first time in 20 years

France's Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and the Libyan counterpart Abdul Rahman Shalqam yesterday in Paris opened works of the French- Libyan joint committee, which meets for the first time since 20 years.

This meeting, however, constitutes a new phase in the rapprochement between the two countries. Relations which were crowned last Friday by a visit to Tripoli held by the French foreign minister during which he met with the Libyan leader.

The committee is composed of two committees assigned to cooperate in the cultural, scientific, technical and economic fields. Its task is to define the main pillars for cooperation between the two countries during the two and three coming years, according to the French Foreign ministry.