France, Libya sign nuke deal
2007-07-26 07:26
Tripoli - France and Libya on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a Libyan nuclear reactor for water desalination, announced a senior French official.
French presidential aide Claude Gueant said the agreement "aims to furnish Libya with a nuclear reactor that will provide a supply of drinking water" through desalination of sea water.
The deal came soon after French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew in for talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a day after Tripoli's release of six foreign medics in a move that cleared the way for trade deals with the oil-rich state.
Gueant emphasised that "there is still much work to do" on the feasibility study of the desalination project.
Officials said a second agreement, to co-operate on civilian nuclear energy, was signed at the end of the talks between Gaddafi and Sarkozy by Libyan foreign minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner.
Sarkozy had touted his visit of less than 24 hours as a "political trip" to help Libya's reintegration into the international community after decades of sanctions and isolation.
It came after French efforts contributed to the release on Tuesday of the medics, held in Libya since 1999 and whose death sentence for infecting children with the Aids virus was commuted.