Chief UN disarmament expert Mr Hans Blix said this evening he believed he was "making progress" after his first talks with Iraqi officials aimed at resuming the hunt for Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction programs.
"I think we are making progress," Mr Blix said after emerging from almost two hours of talks with Iraqi officials at the foreign ministry in Baghdad.
"We have started discussions on the modalities of (the) resumption of inspections. We're going to continue tomorrow around the same time," said Mr Blix.
Mr Blix, who was accompanied by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mr Mohamed ElBaradei, met with several Iraqi officials, including President Saddam Hussein's advisor Gen Amer al-Saadi.
Also taking part were Mr Blix's Iraqi counterpart, Brig Hossam Amin, who heads the National Monitoring Directorate, and Mr Said al-Musawi, head of the foreign ministry's department of international organizations, as well as the head of Iraq's Atomic Energy Agency, Mr Moslim al-Janabi.
Mr Saadi, a weapons expert, negotiated the modalities of the inspectors' return with Mr Blix and Mr ElBaradei in Vienna in early October, ahead of the November 8th UN Security Council resolution which outlined the strict rules for their mission.
Before Mr Blix resumes the talks tomorrow, his team of technical experts will make a second visit to the former Canal Hotel, the headquarters of the previous UN inspection mission withdrawn in 1998 which they will also use.
The team made a visit there upon its arrival today. It was not immediately clear if Mr Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and ElBaradei would meet other Iraqi officials at the ministry.
After descending from the plane at Saddam International Airport with an advance party of two dozen experts, Mr Blix said "the situation is tense at the moment but this is a new opportunity.
"We are here to provide an inspection that is credible, inspection that is in the interest of Iraq and the interest of the world.
"What we are coming with offers an opportunity and we hope we can take that opportunity together," Mr Blix said after being greeted from the plane by his Iraqi counterpart, Mr Amin.
"We are here to do a job and we will do that professionally and I hope competently," he said. Asked what level of cooperation he expected from Iraq, Mr Blix answered: "Full".
AFP