The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, visited the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on 29-30 May 2007.
During the visit he was received by Brother Muammar Qadhafi, the Leader of the Revolution, in the city of Sirte. They held talks on international and regional issues of mutual concern, and on ways of developing bilateral co-operation. He also met the Secretary of the General People’s Committee.
The two sides expressed their satisfaction at the extensive development in Libya’s relations with the international community since 2004, including the lifting of EU and UN sanctions on Libya and the removal by the US in June 2006 of Libya from the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism. The UK and Libya signed a Joint Letter on Peace and Security in June 2006, which was circulated in the UN Security Council.
They warmly welcomed the development of UK/Libya relations following Libya’s decision in 2003 voluntarily to abandon the programmes and equipment that might enable it to produce internationally banned Weapons of Mass Destruction, which were dismantled by September 2004. The Prime Minister’s visit to Libya in March 2004, to offer the hand of partnership between the two countries in a variety of sectors, has been followed by numerous Ministerial visits in both directions. The UK and Libya now co-operate across a wide range of areas including defence, health, education, trade and investment, science and technology, counter terrorism, policing and migration. Cooperation documents have been signed in areas including science, defence, visas, and health, and expert-level discussions continue in these and other areas.
The Prime Minister and the Secretary of the General People's Committee expressed their shared determination to develop and further strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
They stressed the importance of broadening the areas of co-operation, including:
Education and Culture: the two sides expressed their satisfaction at the increased activity of the British Council in Libya, including the English Language Centre in Tripoli, and the extension by a further two years of the work of English lecturers in Libyan universities. They supported future cooperation between the British Council and Libyan institutions to build educational capacity, and the establishment of Libyan cultural centres in the UK, in accordance with the agreement on the establishment of cultural centres signed between the two countries in Libya on 18 December 2003.
Archaeology: the two sides agreed to develop their cooperation in the field of antiquities, particularly in the area of archaeological excavations and the restoration of antiquities, and commended highly the work of the Society for Libyan Studies.
Health: creating a partnership between medical establishments in both
countries, in line with the letter of intent signed by the Secretary of the GPC for Health and Environment and the British Minister of Health in May 2006. The Libyan side welcomed the visit that the UK Health Minister plans to make to Libya in the summer of 2007 to discuss ways to increase and develop co-operation in this area ;
Judicial cooperation and training: following up the visit to the UK by the Libyan Secretary for Justice from 22 to 24 May 2007, and closer co-operation between the judicial authorities of the two countries;
Economic and Financial Development: the signing of an agreement enabling BP to return to Libya. With Shell and BG, BP will assist the National Oil Corporation of Libya in the environmentally sensitive development of Libya’s natural resources;
The two sides expressed their satisfaction at the two visits to Tripoli by Sir Michael Savory, the first as Lord Mayor of London, during which they studied ways to strengthen co-operation between the Jamahiriya and the City of London, in particular by updating Libya's commercial and banking law, in line with the joint recommendations of the General Planning Council and the Law Society of England and Wales; and the visit in May 2007 of the Prime Minister's Economic Envoy to Libya, Sir Howard Davies, for talks with Libyan officials about economic reform, including financial services, and about developing contacts between the Central Bank of Libya and the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, to bring the expertise of the London Stock Exchange to Tripoli, to set up Libyan small and larger enterprises in Libya, and bring Libyan investment organisations to London;
Defence: an Accord on a Defence Cooperation and Defence Industrial Partnership was signed, as were agreements with MBDA and GD(UK).
Counter Terrorism, Police Cooperation and Training: the strengthening of cooperation, including UK consideration of proposals for capacity-building in areas of counter-terrorism policing, command and control, and police training.
Tourism, Travel, Visas and Residence Permits: the two sides renewed their commitment to facilitate two-way tourism, study, trade and investment, and to facilitate the granting of visas and residence permits to the citizens of both countries.
Migration, Development and the Environment in Africa: the two countries confirmed that they will strengthen bilateral cooperation in migration and development in Africa, following Libya’s hosting of the EU/AU Ministerial conference on Migration and Development in Tripoli in November 2006. The two sides also welcomed the continuing efforts of the Government of the UK to combat global poverty, particularly insofar as it affects Africa, and in this context examined together proposals for joint work in the field of development cooperation in Africa.
They expressed their appreciation of the efforts of Brother Muammar Qadhafi, the Leader of the Revolution, to establish the African Union and complete the development of its institutions, and likewise the establishment of the grouping of Sahelian and Saharan States (CEN-SAD) and continued efforts to bring an end to armed conflict in the continent of Africa and to spread peace and security, and to find a solution to the problem of Darfur and to reach agreement between Chad and Sudan. They renewed their commitment to establish peace in Chad and stressed the need for all parties to be bound by the Abuja Accord for peace in Darfur and by the text of the Tripoli Agreement reached at the International Conference on the Situation in Darfur, held in Tripoli on 29 April 2007.
The two sides confirmed their commitment to work together for the success of the second Africa/European Union summit to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 2007.