Arriving in Vienna, Annan meets with UN team to review agenda for Iraq talks

Arriving in Vienna today, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with the key members of his delegation to discuss the next round of talks with Iraqi officials, which begin on Thursday in the Austrian capital.

According to a UN spokesperson, the Secretary-General and his team reviewed the principal items on their agenda for those talks: Iraqi concerns regarding implementation of Security Council resolutions on Iraq, the return of UN inspectors to the country and the return of the Kuwaiti national archives.

Participating in the preparatory discussions were Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), Mohammed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell and Yuli Vorontsov, the UN's High Level Coordinator dealing with missing persons and property.

The talks with the Iraqi delegation, which will be headed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, are expected to last two days, spokesperson Hua Jiang said at a press briefing in New York. There will be a plenary session on Thursday morning, expert level talks on Thursday afternoon – which will continue on Friday – and a concluding plenary on Friday afternoon.

In addition to his discussions with the senior delegation members, the Secretary-General is also expected to hold two other meetings this afternoon.

Mr. Annan's programme in Vienna today included a meeting with his Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, for an assessment of the ongoing talks between the leaders of the island's two communities, and discussions with his former Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup.