NEW YORK, Sept 23: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Libya’s foreign minister on Saturday in their first encounter since the United States restored full diplomatic ties with its former foe last May.

Ms Rice posed briefly for the cameras and shook hands with Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam before the two began talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Asked when she planned to visit Libya, Ms Rice smiled and said: “We will let you know our travel plans when we have them.”

The Libyan minister, who also met Ms Rice during last year’s UN meetings, did not comment.

Libya has been awaiting news of a visit by Ms Rice that would be seen as a symbolic gesture of the new relationship between the two countries.

The highest-ranking US official to visit Libya so far has been Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, who led a delegation in July.—Reuters