Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi held talks on improving relations with Washington with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs on Thursday, Libya's official news agency reported. Assistant Secretary David Welch met Gadhafi for more than an hour at the end of a three-day trip to Libya, JANA reported. Welch is the former U.S. ambassador to Egypt. The report said Welch expressed Washington's appreciation of Libya's efforts to bring peace to Darfur, the west Sudanese region where a rebellion and counter-insurgency has led to the death of at least 180,000 people during the past two years. Welch also said the United States was interested in developing economic and political relations with Libya, JANA reported. In Washington, State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper would not confirm the meeting, but he did say that Welch was in Libya this week for "broad-ranged bilateral consultations" with the Libyans.