Poland's foreign minister Radek Sikorski, on a surprise visit to Tripoli and Benghazi, Monday, congratulated the Libyan people for overthrowing the Gaddafi regime and embarking on their “first days of freedom”.

Sikorski with Mustafa Abdul Jalil; pgoto - PAP/Pawel Supernak

“Today, all of Libya is free,” Sikorski said, and promised to share Poland's experiences of building democracy after decades of dictatorship.

"We did it 20 years ago. We succeeded and so we are ready to share with you the things we did right and the mistakes we made," he said.

Minister Sikorski was the first senior politician from the international community to visit Libya since the National Transitional Council declared itself “liberated” from 42 years of rule by Col Gaddafi, who was killed in his home town of Sirte last Thursday.

Sikorski, who had talks with interim government leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, was accompanied to Libya by Polish business people from the petrochemical and construction industries.

“Polish companies have a good reputation and will have plenty to do in rebuilding Libya,” Sikorski said.

Poland, currently head of the six-month rotating EU presidency, has invited leaders from the National Transitional Council to a conference in Warsaw on 2 December on cooperation between newly liberated nations in North Africa and the EU. (pg)