OTTAWA - The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper coordinated Canada's stances on Libya and the Middle East with US President Barack Obama on Monday.

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They discussed on telephone the moves by the UN Security Council and both Canada and the United States to impose sanctions on Libya, an official release said.

Harper and Obama also discussed the serious situation in Libya, as well as developments in the Middle East and North African region.

They agreed to remain in close touch and cooperate in helping evacuate each other's citizens from Libya, and in finding ways to promote peace in Libya and throughout the region.

The leaders agreed to coordinate closely in expanding the humanitarian effort in cooperation with the United Nations and other partners, and in consideration of other options should they become necessary.

The Canadian government has decided to take extra measures than the UN Security Council on Libya by imposing an asset freeze and prohibit financial transactions with the government of Libya, its institutions and agencies, and the Libyan Central Bank.

The UN Security Council unanimously passed on Saturday Resolution 1970 which includes an arms embargo to prevent arms into and from Libya, a travel ban on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and 15 individuals closely associated with him, an asset freeze against Gaddafi and members of his family, as well as the setup of a new Sanctions Committee to monitor implementation of the Resolution.

The Canadian government has facilitated the evacuation of more than 230 Canadians on a number of flights and vessels to date.

Two Canadian C-17 Globemaster aircraft are now on standby in Malta and Canada is also deploying two C-130J Hercules aircraft to the region to provide additional and more flexible capacity.