Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg met with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in what was an unannounced visit to Libya yesterday.

A two-sentence statement by the Department of Information issued in the afternoon only said Dr Gonzi and Dr Borg left in the morning for a short visit to meet Col Gaddafi. The agenda of the meeting was not communicated.

This is the fourth meeting between Malta and Libya on a political level in just over a year. Sources said yesterday’s talks could have focused on the Malta-Libya friendship and cooperation agreement, which had also been raised in the previous meetings.

The first meeting was held in Malta between Dr Borg and his Libyan counterpart, Mousa Kousa, in January last year.

In a second meeting in June, the Prime Minister and Dr Borg met Col Gaddafi in Libya along with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other European diplomats. In the meeting, the Libyan leader thanked Malta and Italy for their efforts to help resolve the Swiss-Libyan visa row.

Dr Borg then met Mr Kousa in Tripoli last October with talks focusing on the cooperation agreement.

Apart from the issue of illegal immigration, which sees the fate of both countries intertwined, Malta has a long-standing dispute with Libya over the delineation of the continental shelf.

Libya appointed a new ambassador in August after leaving the post vacant for 18 months.