DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Over the last two years, there has been little official contact between Iraq and the United Nations, but the two are talking today. Iraq's foreign minister is meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. At issue: the international sanctions on Iraq. CNN senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth has the latest now from the U.N. Richard, good morning.</s>RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. No dialogue between Baghdad and Washington, perhaps a role, again, for the United Nations. It was the Iraqi government which asked for these talks several months ago, and now Iraq's foreign minister Mohammed al Sahaf (ph) is here in New York. He's due at U.N. headquarters any minute now to begin talks with the United Nations officials, including Secretary-General Annan, al Sahaf arriving late Friday afternoon, going directly to the residence of Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations. One of the major issues here for the foreign minister with the United Nations is the issue of sanctions. Iraq says the United Nations Security Council must lift the economic sanctions that were imposed nearly a decade ago, during the Gulf War. Baghdad says unless these sanctions are not lifted, there's no dialogue that can happen regarding the other main issue, which is weapons inspections. The United Nations weapons inspectors have not been in Baghdad and parts of Iraq for more than two years now. Pentagon officials have speculated that Baghdad has rebuild factories and other key sites, but there's no evidence yet that there's any build-up of weapons of mass destruction. There's still a split inside the U.N. Security Council regarding what to do about Iraq policy, U.N. officials have been waiting for guidance from Washington, which is reviewing the Iraqi file. The United Nations officials keep talking about smart sanctions so that the -- the people of Iraq are not damaged in any way. That's where Washington has been leaning, but there's been no agreement yet among the big powers here -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Richard Roth, at United Nations, thank you so much.
Iraq Foreign Minister Meeting With U.N. Secretary-General Annan to Discuss Sanctions