Tripoli (Libya): Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in a move to rebuild ties with a former ally that is now an increasingly open market for investments.

The head of Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom said the company is interested in projects in Libya, including the construction of an undersea gas pipeline from Libya to Sicily, the Russian news agency Interfax said. The Italian firm Eni, with which Gazprom has said previously it wants to cooperate, has been building one pipeline on the Mediterranean seabed, and a second is planned.

"Gazprom is interested in this project," Gazprom head Alexei Miller, who accompanied Putin to Tripoli, said, according to Interfax. Putin met with Gadhafi soon after his arrival in the Libyan capital, the first visit by a Kremlim leader to the North African country. During the 1980s, Libya was a major customer for Soviet weapons, buying a large number of fighter jets, helicopters, tanks and other equipment.

Moscow's support was essential for Libya, which faced international sanctions. But military and other ties withered after the Soviet collapse and Libya's Soviet-made weapons have been taken out of use because of a lack of spare parts and maintenance.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said yesterday the two countries had reached an agreement for Tripoli to repay Moscow some USD 4.6 billion in outstanding Soviet-era debt, one of the main disputes between them.

"The amount of the debt has been fixed at USD 4.6 billion," Kudrin said told journalists in Tripoli, according to Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency.

Source : PTI