U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan says he is encouraged by just concluded talks with Iraq on the question of returning U.N. arms inspectors to that country. 

This series of negotiations did not produce a breakthrough, but Mr. Annan says he hopes to hold another round of talks within a month. Mr. Annan says broader issues, including the U.S. and British enforced no-fly zones over Iraq were also discussed during the three days of talks just held. 

Mr. Annan spoke Friday after meeting at U.N. headquarters with the head of the Iraqi delegation - Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. Mr. Sabri described the talks as "useful, frank and focused." 

Mr. Annan says the talks included a good dialogue between U.N. and Iraqi technical experts. Mr. Sabri's 15-member delegation included at least four high-level experts on nuclear and chemical weapons. 

U.N. weapons inspectors first went to Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to seek out and dismantle Iraqi programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. They left in late 1998 before the United States and Britain bombed Iraq as punishment for refusing to cooperate with the inspections. 

U.N. resolutions say arms inspectors must certify that Iraq no longer has weapons of mass destruction, or the means to produce them, before U.N. trade sanctions against Iraq can be lifted. 

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