TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi said Friday that his country seeks "friendship" with the United States and that the time for confrontation with the superpower has passed, according to comments aired on official television. "We need friendship with the United States. America equally needs us and its oil companies can now work in Libya. It's time for reciprocal interests and not confrontation," Gaddafi said at an official ceremony in Syrte, 500 kilometres (300 miles) from Tripoli. Last month US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conferred with her Libyan counterpart Abd al-Rahman Shalgam in New York and said the two one-time foes were on a fast track towards better ties. "We have had a very good discussion of a path toward Libyan-US relations that will lead us to better and better relations between our people, between our governments," Rice told reporters on the sidelines of the current General Assembly session.