MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Libya this week, the first official trip to the North African country by a top U.S. diplomat in 55 years, the State Department announced.
"The Secretary's visit to Libya signifies a new chapter in U.S.-Libyan bilateral relations. Secretary Rice will be the first Secretary of State to travel to Libya since John Foster Dulles in 1953," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday.
Rice will also travel to Portugal, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco during the trip, from September 4 to September 7, he said.
Rice will meet with senior government officials in all five countries to discuss a wide range of bilateral and regional issues.
The spokesman said normalized relations with Libya "enable the expansion of bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, including education and culture, commerce, science and technology, security and human rights."
