The US government has decided to lift some economic sanctions against Libya, but the timing has still to be worked out, senior US officials have said.  

Libya's decision last December to abandon its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction and its acceptance of responsibility for the 1988 downing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, are prompting the US government to lift the sanctions, unnamed US officials was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

However, Libya is still expected to remain on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism, meaning that US companies will not be allowed to export so-called dual-use equipment to Libya, the newspaper report said.

The US sanctions against Libya were imposed two decades ago, which bar US companies from doing business in the country.

The White House last month lifted its travel restrictions to Libya by US citizens and said it would allow US oil companies to resume operating in Libya.

As the clearest sign of the improved relations, William Burns, US assistant secretary of state in charge of Near East affairs, met on Tuesday with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Burns was the highest-level US official to visit the North African country in more than 30 years.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli declined to comment on specific measures under consideration to normalize US-Libyan ties.

"This is a process that is going to move one step at a time," Ereli told reporters.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2004)