US President George W. Bush has said he wants to work with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi toward achieving world peace, the state news agency JANA reported on Friday.

"I want to express to Your Excellency my wish to work together to achieve freedom and peace in all regions of the world," Bush was quoting as saying in a message for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha which falls later this month.

The United States announced last year a full normalisation of ties with Libya, lifting the country from a US State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism and raising diplomatic relations to the level of ambassadors.

Relations were restored in early 2004, following a break since 1981, a few weeks after Kadhafi announced that Tripoli was abandoning efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

[AFP]