From correspondents in Middle East, 08:31 AM IST

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice met with her Libyan counterpart Friday after she arrived here on a landmark visit to discuss ways to boost cooperation between the two countries.

Rice and Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Rahman Shulqum expressed satisfaction over improving bilateral relations. They discussed economic cooperation between the two countries, especially in the oil sector.

'We tackled several important issues during the meeting, like Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, US-Syrian relations and Syria's role in the Arab world,' Shulqum told the official JANA news agency.

Shulqum said Rice commented 'on the progress of the relations between our countries and that presence of a deep political dialogue'.

During her five-hour visit, Rice is scheduled to meet Libyan President Moamer Gaddafi before she holds a press conference.

She has also been invited to visit the house where the Libyan leader's adopted daughter died in a US air raid on Tripoli in 1986.

The visit is seen as the opening of a new era after more than half a century of strained US-Libyan relations.

The last US secretary of state to visit Libya was John Foster Dulles in 1953.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)