OREANDA-NEWS. August 1, 2008.  “The general mood is to intensify Russian-Libyan relations, first of all, in trade and economy,” Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin said during a press-conference.

The countries have established a constructive and stable political dialogue and are actively developing it.

Putin said that Russia and Libya were committed to continue their cooperation in the military-technical sphere. Particularly, Libya has confirmed its interest in obtaining the high-quality production of Russia’s defense industry.

Putin thanked the Libyan leader Moaemer Kadhafi for his decision to set free the employee of LUKOIL. “It was good news for us. This is a sign of friendly attitude towards Russia,” Putin said.

Putin said that Russia was ready to provide the Libyan security services with all necessary assistance if need be.

Prime Minister of Libya al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi pointed out that Libya was ready to start other big projects with Russian companies and was going to carry out large-scale investment work in different regions of Russia.

He pointed out that Libya was working on a project to build a nuclear power plant for producing electricity and desalinating sea water.

The Libyan Premier said that the Libyan leader was ready to develop cooperation in the military-technical sphere and that during the talks they had reached specific agreements on how to strengthen the Libyan army with the support of Russia.

Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi expressed hope that the violence in Darfur and Sudan would be stopped through bilateral negotiations or with the help of the UN Security Council.