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Angela Merkel also pointed to water supply, hospitals and infrastructure as other areas in which Germany could support reconstruction.  

Along with 30 other heads of state and government, and numerous ministers and leading representatives of international organisations, the Chancellor had been attending the Paris meeting on Libya, which was jointly hosted by France and the United Kingdom.   

Some blocked assets to be unfrozen

There was general agreement that the assets blocked when Colonel Gaddafi was still in power should now be swiftly unfrozen.

According to Angela Merkel the United Nations has agreed to unfreeze one million of the total of seven billion euros of Libyan assets currently blocked in Germany. These funds must be used now to rebuild the country, she said.

All in all a total of some ten million euros are now to be unfrozen announced French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. 

The NATO mission is to continue until Gaddafi and his supporters are no longer a danger to Libya, said Nicolas Sarkozy.

EU lifts some sanctions

As Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced in Brussels, the blocked assets of 28 companies, including banks, ports and oil companies, will be unfrozen.

The partial lifting of sanctions is a "clear sign", said Catherine Ashton. The EU intends to support the Libyan people in this way during the transitional phase following the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime.

National Transitional Council invited to Germany 

"I have invited representatives of the National Transitional Council to Germany," said Angela Merkel. She also announced that the German Embassy in Tripoli would be opening again soon.

The German government has made available loans of up to 100 million euros to the National Transitional Council, to be used for humanitarian and civilian purposes. Three-quarters of this sum has already been disbursed.