Talks in Tripoli

Issues up for discussion at the two-day meeting include "legal migration flows, illegal immigration, migration and development, protection of refugees, as well as larger problems of peace, security and human rights," according to EU officials.

The conference, which ends Thursday, was also to adopt a join European Union-African Union action plan to combat the slave trade, especially in women and children.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble called on Europeans and Africans to work together against illegal immigration. He added that offers of temporary migration could help to deal with the problem.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahmane Chalgham said "repressive solutions alone are not enough to fight against illegal immigration."

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country is the EU's current rotating president, said, "The EU's commitment to African development is total.

"The EU attaches great importance to regional approaches on migration," he added.

Libya's role

With 1,770 kilometers (1,100 miles) of coastline, Libya has itself become an important stepping-stone in recent years for African migrants seeking entry to Europe through Malta, the Italian island of Lampedusa or nearby Sicily.

Foreigners are estimated to make up a large chunk of the people living in Libya, with 600,000 legal foreign workers and between 750,000 and 1.2 million illegal immigrants, according to an EU mission to the country in 2005.

The situation has fuelled tensions in the country, where the welcome mat is no longer rolled out for immigrants and which is looking for help in monitoring its 4,400 kilometers of desert borders.

Border monitoring

The European Union has offered 1.5 million euros ($1.9 million) to back an Italian project to monitor the border with Niger, an operation that has been attacked by rights groups.

So far Libya has refused Europeans permission to patrol its territorial waters amid suspicions in Europe that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi opens the taps of immigration according to his immediate interests.

"I hope that everyone will be serious about resolving the problem, but I'm not sure that they will be serious and I believe simply that it propaganda," he said Monday.

Leonelle Gabrici at the European Commission's department for external relations said "by organizing this conference, Libya is taking another step onto the international stage after years of isolation."

Libyan experts working in various fields are due to visit Brussels on Dec. 6 and 7 to explore the possibilities for cooperation with Europe.