Iraq will do its best to make the scheduled visit of chief UN weapon inspectors for more talks on the disarmament process "successful," a senior Iraqi official said here."We understood the letter of (chief UN arms inspector) Hans Blix, we read it and I think it (does not contain) conditions, but he hoped that some measures should be taken, should be finalized, should be agreed upon during his visit," Hosam Mohammed Amin, head of the National Monitoring Directorate (NMD), told a press conference on Sunday.

"We shall do our best to make his visit successful," added Amin, whose NMD liaises with the UN inspectors in Baghdad.

But an official Iraqi spokesman, quoted by the state INA news agency, said President Saddam Hussein had no plans to meet the two top inspectors.

Iraqi officials who will see Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency Director general Mohamed ElBaradei "are mandated by the president and the political leadership to deal with the the mission of the two inspection agencies," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Australian officials said Prime Minister John Howard will visit Washington next weekend for talks with US President George W Bush on the looming war in Iraq.

Confirming a report that Howard was likely to accept an invitation from the White House to make his third United States visit in a year, his office said a statement would be issued later in the day.

Howard, who is understood to be due in Washington on Saturday ahead of a meeting with Bush on Monday, is facing growing public and political disquiet over his strong support for the US campaign to disarm Iraq, with plans to send troops to the Gulf.

In Beirut, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa told reporters Arab foreign ministers would convene in mid-February an emergency meeting concerning the threat of a US-led war on Iraq.

He said the session would be held at the 22-member Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, but would not comment when asked if the meeting would be held on February 14, the end of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.

Former British Labour MP and cabinet minister Tony Benn said here meanwhile he had been received by President Saddam Hussein, who remained "optimistic" about avoiding a US-led war against Iraq.

"I put the questions that I wanted to put designed to explore the possibilities that there was an alternative to war, and I think when you hear what the president says, that optimism will be confirmed," Benn, a leading figure of the British left, told a news conference.

Benn had announced in London his intention to travel to Baghdad to meet with Saddam and assess the "prospects for peace."

A staunch pacifist, Benn, 77, met with Saddam in 1990 to try to prevent the escalation of the crisis following the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.

His current visit comes as the United States, backed by Britain, is threatening to invade Iraq which it suspects of pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

"I do believe that it is possible to halt the march to war. This is my conviction, I do not believe in the inevitability of war. I think however more needs to be done," Benn told the news conference.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou arrived Sunday evening in Jordan on the second leg of a regional tour for talks with senior officials on the Iraqi crisis, Petra news agency reported.

Papandreou will hold talks Monday with Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher and Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb as part of efforts to find a peaceful settlement to the US standoff with Iraq.

Earlier Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said no conditions were set for the visit of Blix and ElBaradei scheduled for February 8-9.

"It is a normal visit and visits do not carry conditions," said Ramadan.

Ramadan told reporters that "the invitation was sent out and they will come at the set time in a normal manner."

"We are neither optimistic nor pessimistic, we are just realistic" about the outcome of the visit, he said.

In Vienna, the IAEA said Saturday the inspectors' visit was announced to Iraqi authorities in a letter.

An IAEA spokeswoman said Blix and ElBaradei "expressed their readiness to go on this visit to do everything they could to achieve disarmament through inspections."

The Iraqi invitation came after US President Bush said he would send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Security Council on February 5 with intelligence reports showing that Iraq had lied and deceived the inspectors.

Blix and ElBaradei have visited Iraq twice since November when the arms inspections resumed after a four-year hiatus.

PHOTO CAPTION

Head of Iraq's national monitoring directorate Hossam Mohammad Amin