Libya welcomed a US move to relax its trade embargo on the North African state and said on Saturday bankers from the two countries were discussing ways to unfreeze Libyan assets in the United States.
Washington said on Friday it would allow US firms to buy Libyan oil and invest as a reward to Tripoli for giving up weapons of mass destruction development programmes.
But some restrictions remain and frozen Libyan assets are still blocked.
Libyan officials say assets worth about $1 billion are frozen in the United States, including equity holdings in banks.
"We welcome this decision which comes in the framework of developing relations between America and Libya," Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tripoli. "Libyan and American bankers are now discussing a mechanism to free up these assets," he said, adding that some sanctions such as a ban on the US export of items with the potential to be used for military purposes were still in place for technical, not political reasons.
Although assets remain blocked, a Libyan banking official said there would be no further freezing, which would previously have occurred if, for example, any Libyan dollar transactions were cleared through New York.
"Now new funds cannot be blocked. New funds can go through New York without any problems," the banker said, saying the new arrangements were expected to become effective during next week.
"For us, especially the banking sector, it is an immense relief. It will allow us to conduct business in the most profitable investment market in the world," the Libyan banker said.
Lifting sanctions also opens the way for US oil firms to return to the OPEC member after several firms abandoned assets in Libya in the 1980s. Libya has struggled to maintain production with US equipment but no access to spare parts.