In a move that will please domestic businesses struggling amid a deep recession but could rub the United States the wrong way, Japan is working behind the scenes to take a significant policy step toward closer economic ties with Libya.
Government sources said Thursday that Japan will unfreeze its application of a state-run trade and investment insurance scheme for domestic firms doing business with the North African country as early as this spring.
Japan has already moved toward warmer economic relations with Libya. In response to the United Nations' suspension of economic and diplomatic sanctions against Libya in April 1999, Japan quickly lifted its own sanctions.