Mike O'Brien is set to tell Colonel Gaddafi that there will be no deal transferring the Lockerbie bomber to a Libyan prison.

The Foreign Office minister is making the first ministerial visit to the country since 1983 and aims to continue the process of dialogue that has seen Libya re-build links with the international community in recent years.

O'Brien is expected to arrive late on Tuesday and may hold talks directly with Colonel Gaddafi before departing on Thursday.

As well as seeking Libya's support for the war on terrorism, bi-lateral issues between the two countries will also be discussed, but the Foreign Office denied reports that the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing could be transferred from his Scottish prison.

A Foreign Office spokesman said O'Brien would be giving a "categorical no" to the idea.

Libya had agreed that the two suspects would be tried and treated in accordance with Scottish law. "That agreement stands," said the spokesman.

But Britain defended the decision to go ahead with the visit.

"A Libya which cooperates fully with the international community, including on terrorism, is very much in our interests. Our judgement is that in the case of Libya, we are more likely to achieve this by encouragement rather than isolation," said O'Brien.

"My visit comes after four years of critical engagement with Libya, an engagement that has produced some results. My message for the Libyan leadership is that we want to see further progress on the outstanding issues between us, on terrorism and on weapons of mass destruction."

A departmental spokesman said the four year process of engagement had already resulted in "some progress" on issues such as the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher and the Lockerbie bombing.

The move comes against a background of slowly improving relations with Colonel Gaddafi's regime, which was excluded from US president George Bush's "axis of evil" but has been accused of seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons by American officials.

The Foreign Office spokesman said Britain wanted Libya to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention and warned there would be "no compromise or ambiguity" in Britain's position on weapons of mass destruction.

The UK ended diplomatic relations with Libya in 1984 after the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the north African country's London embassy.

Through the rest of the 1980s relations worsened, with the seizure in 1987 of a ship loaded with arms destined for the IRA and the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988.

In 1991, two Libyans were indicted for the Lockerbie bombing and the following year a United Nations Security Council resolution called on Libya to surrender those charged with the crime, accept responsibility for the actions of its officials, pay appropriate compensation, prove through its actions that it had renounced terrorism and disclose all its knowledge of the attack on Flight 103.

After Libya failed to comply, the UN imposed sanctions in 1992 and strengthened them further in 1993.

But following negotiations, in April 1999 the two Lockerbie accused were flown from Tripoli to stand trial in the Netherlands and one, Al-Megrahi, was found guilty.

In July 1999 diplomatic contacts resumed after Libya accepted "general responsibility" for the shooting of WPC Fletcher, made an apology and paid compensation to the family.

The UN sanctions can only be fully lifted when Libya meets the remaining requirements to accept responsibility and pay compensation for Lockerbie, and proves its renunciation of terrorism.

Talks between the US, UK and Libya on how Libya can meet these conditions began in February 2001.

Lawyers for the Lockerbie families are negotiating compensation directly with the Libyan government, and the Foreign Office said the issue would not be on O'Brien's agenda.