French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said today that Libya's decision to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programmes was an important step towards rejoining the international community.
However, Mr Villepin urged Libya to "implement without delay" its commitment to compensating families of victims of the bombing of a French airliner in 1989.
"Libya is heading down the path of disarmament. It's a success for the entire international community," Mr Villepin told reporters at the Foreign Ministry.
The surprise decision, made public yesterday, was "an important step towards the full return of this country to the international community", he said. The move opens the prospect of an end to sanctions and the possible return of US firms.
France had threatened to veto the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya in September, after Tripoli agreed to pay $2.7 billion to families of 270 people killed in the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.
It said it wanted more compensation for the families of 170 victims of the UTA plane bombed over Niger, but eventually dropped its opposition after a more favourable deal was reportedly struck over the UTA case.
Libya never acknowledged responsibility for the UTA bombing, but agreed to pay $34 million to families of the victims after a French court convicted six Libyans in absentia in 1999.
Talks with the relatives over a more generous payout are continuing.