Libya 's National Transitional Council has said it will respect existing oil contracts, a European Union diplomat said Tuesday.

Speaking of meetings with new Libyan officials, the diplomat said: "In general terms, they underlined business continuity. There will not be any action taken on the decisions of the Gadhafi regime."

For future contracts, the diplomat said, Libya will be open to all bids from any company.

The diplomat also said Libyan NTC officials have said they do not want to be pushed to fix an election date and want sufficient time. He said they didn't want to be pegged down to holding an election in eight or 12 months.

Meanwhile, briefing reporters, Agostino Miozzo, the EU's managing director for crisis response, said he had been impressed by the NPC officials he had met during a five-day visit to Tripoli , which started August 31st. If the current group of people in charge in Tripoli remain the leaders, "we will be in a safe condition," he said.

"People we met are impressive," Miozzo said. "You can trust these people."

Miozzo said there were signs that the fuel shortages Tripoli has experienced in recent weeks are easing, that people are going back to work and shops are reopening.

Water supply remains a problem, he said, as does security because of the large quantity of guns people are still carrying.

The visit left him feeling "positive" about Libya 's prospects, adding that the "situation is going back to normality."

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