Gaddafi invites president Bush to Libya

CAIRO, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has invited US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit his country, visiting US Senator RichardLugar said in Tripoli on Saturday.

Lugar, ending a two-day trip to Libya, told journalists following talks with Gaddafi that the Libyan leader had expressed "his hope that Bush and Rice would visit Libya," according to reports from the Libyan capital.

Lugar arrived in Libya Friday in another step to normalize relations with the North African country. The trip was the highest-profile US visit to Libya since relations between the two countries began to thaw.