Weapons inspectors and Iraqi officials have agreed to meet again in Vienna in 10 days to complete arrangements for the inspectors' return.
Former Iraqi ambassador Mr Saeed Hasan made the announcement at the end of a meeting with chief UN weapons inspector Mr Hans Blix, which he called "useful and fruitful".
Asked how soon as inspectors could be on the ground in Baghdad, Mr Hasan said: "It depends on Mr Blix's arrangements".
Mr Blix, who runs the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unscom), has said he could have inspectors on the ground within days but it will take his teams several weeks before they can begin monitoring Iraqi sites.
It was a positive first sign, a day after Iraq announced that it would be willing to accept the unconditional return of weapons inspectors nearly four years after they left.
Iraq and the United Nations need to resolve several outstanding issues before the inspectors can return, however.
Those include use of the previous inspection agency's Baghdad headquarters, support for the inspectors, government escorts and translators, installation and monitoring of equipment, travel to and from Iraq for inspectors, accommodation for short-term and long-term staff, landing sites for aircraft and overflights in Iraq.
PA