PRESS BRIEFING BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL

UNITED NATIONS
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

31 May 2002

Excerpts

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**Iraq Talks

I know you’ve all been waiting for the official announcement for the next round of talks between the Secretary-General and representatives of the Government of Iraq.

I can now tell you that the next round will take place on 4 and 5 July at the UN offices in Vienna.

The Iraqi delegation will be headed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri.

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**Questions and Answers

Question:  I have two brief questions.  On the Iraq talks, who will be participating on the United Nations side?

Spokesman:  We don’t have the final delegation list except that as at the last session, Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC (the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) and Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are both expected to be there.  There could be others, but we haven’t finalized the list yet.

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