"It has been a positive meeting and we hope to reach an agreement within the end of the curent month". So Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi commented the meeting he had today in Rome with is Libyan counterpart Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi. The agenda of talks was topped by an accord to compensate Libya for Italy's colonial past and bilateral cooperation to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from North Africa to Italy topped. Diplomatic sources said the Libyans requested the meeting and that this may indicate an end is near for the long on-and-off negotiations to resolve issues related to Italy's colonial occupation of the North African country.

[ANSAmed]