«Friends of Libya» conference to be held in Paris today

World leaders meet in Paris on Thursday to discuss Libya's future, with hosts France and Britain hoping to show that a costly military campaign can lead to a political transition that avoids the mistakes of Iraq, the Reuters reports.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron will host the first "Friends of Libya" conference, which convenes on the day Gaddafi would have celebrated the 42nd anniversary of the military coup that brought him to power.

Russia and China, which did not back the NATO intervention championed by Sarkozy and Cameron in March and which have yet to recognize Libya's ruling interim council, will be among some 60 nations and international bodies represented at the conference.

The meeting will give the NTC, set up after the anti-Gaddafi revolt began in February, its first big international platform.