Quite a long time indeed, during which the North African country was on US' list of nations to sponsor terrorism.

The State Department announced on Monday that Libya will be removed from the black list of countries believed to have a strong financial relationship with terrorism.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that US' desire to restore all diplomatic ties with the African country comes as a result of the latter's long standing commitment to giving up all terrorist background.

She added that this current development in the international relations between US and Libya is also due to the fact that the latter proved trustworthy through the sustained cooperation it provided US and the entire international community with, in the months following the September 11, 2001 tragedy.

Although the standard procedure of the removal from the terrorist list usually takes around 45 days, the so called waiting period, David Welch, the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs declared that Libya will immediately be taken off the list of the countries which do not provide any collaboration efforts to the US on issues of terrorism.

Within a greater international scheme, Libya's removal has been positively analyzed since this international and political move might end up influencing oil prices and markets to come down.