‘International community’ lines up for Libyan energy contracts

Minister Sikorski said that as he "was the first head of diplomacy from the international community to visit the rebel stronghold of Benghazi" in the east of Libya during the six-month war to depose Col Gaddafi - and "Poland was the first EU country to send an ambassador" to the city during the fighting – Warsaw is well placed to win oil and gas contracts," he said.

“A number of Polish companies are interested,” Sikorski told the TVP public broadcaster.

Poland’s declared interest in the Libyan energy sector comes after what some observers say is an unseemly row emerging over gas and oil contracts.

As international leaders, led by President Nicholas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron, met in Paris for a “Friends of Libya” conference yesterday, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said that countries involved in the NATO-led air support of the rebels should have preferential treatment when trade contracts in Libya are being given out.

“The [rebel-led National Transitional Council] has said very publicly that, in the reconstruction effort, it would give preferential treatment to those who supported them," Juppe told French RTL radio.

"That seems quite logical and fair," he added.

France and Britain led the air campaign, while other European countries, such as Poland, said that they would limit their involvement to “humanitarian action”.

Meanwhile, Russia, which abstained with China when the UN Security Council passed a resolution in March authorizing the use of force in Libya, has said that the whole of the UN, not just a small group of countries, should be involved in reconstruction of the war-torn country. (pg)