WASHINGTON, Feb 11: A US diplomat is working full-time in Libya for the first time since the United States broke off diplomatic relations in 1981, a State Department spokesman said on Tuesday in a new sign of a thaw between the two.

The diplomatic presence is mainly to help Libyan authorities carry out a pledge made to Britain and the United States to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programmes, the US department said.

Libya's return to the international stage was also boosted on Tuesday when it was announced that British Prime Minister Tony Blair has agreed to hold talks with Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi. Libya's Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam held talks in London.

The US attitude to Libya has undergone a dramatic change since Mr Qadhafi last year ended 15 years of wrangling over how to settle the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

Libya also approached Britain and the United States early last year to say it wanted to hold talks about its banned weapons development. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the new diplomat is working at the US Interests Section based at the Belgian embassy in Tripoli and a second diplomat is there temporarily.

"I think for the first time now in a long time, we've got an American officer who's been assigned to Tripoli and who is accredited under the protecting power of Belgium," Mr Boucher said.

The United States and Libya began talking about normalizing relations after Tripoli agreed in December to dismantle its weapons programmes. "US diplomats in Tripoli are there to facilitate the efforts of the US experts on weapons of mass destruction who are assisting Libya in its efforts to eliminate all elements of the nuclear weapons and missile programmes," Mr Boucher said.

"We do expect now to have US diplomats in Tripoli on a regular and ongoing basis as that work proceeds," he added. "I expect that sooner or later, probably sooner, the Libyans will have diplomats in Washington," Mr Boucher declared. -AFP