The International Atomic Energy Agency is to start technical discussions with Libyan officials on Tripoli's nuclear programme, just over a week after the regime announced it was giving up weapons of mass destruction, IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky announced. The director-general of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, and his team who arrived here on Saturday for an unprecedented three-day visit to meet in the morning with Matouk Mohamed Matouk, deputy premier and head of the Libyan nuclear programme, Gwozdecky said. They were to go on to look at nuclear sites, he added without giving details. It was expected they would start with the Tajura experimental reactor 15 kilometres (10 miles) southeast of Tripoli which has been under IAEA supervision since 1980 and "is the heart of the Libyan nuclear programme," according to a Western diplomat. On Monday, ElBaradei is to have talks with Libyan Prime Minister Choukri Ghanem, the spokesman said. That meeting would be followed by "another rendezvous" which observers said might be an audience with Colonel Moamer Kadhafi in person. The IAEA chief was to return to his Vienna headquarters later on Monday, Gwozdecky said. On his arrival in the Libyan capital, ElBaradei said indications were that Tripoli's nuclear programme was only at the pilot stage, but that full verification still needed to be done. Saturday was largely devoted to protocol. The UN delegation met first with Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgam, who vowed to cooperate fully with the UN nuclear watchdog. "Libya will cooperate with the agency with complete transparency and sign the additional protocol to the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)," Shalgam said, adding that his country would "set up a mechanism of cooperation with the agency." The protocol is the principal means by which the international community keeps its eye on countries which may be trying to build an atomic bomb. For his part, ElBaradei said he was working under the assumption that Libya would sign the additional protocol, adding that it appeared as if Libya had developed some uranium enrichment capabilities. ElBaradei said he would submit a report to the IAEA board of governors in March. His trip comes just over one week after Libyan leader Kadhafi made the surprise announcement that his country was giving up the search for chemical, biological and nuclear arms. Libya's announcement and ElBaradei's visit are the fruit of nine months of secret negotiations between Libya and diplomats from Britain and the United States which ended with Tripoli's dramatic pledge on December 19. On Monday, announcing he would visit Libya, ElBaradei said his trip was intended to "take stock of the situation to develop a comprehensive picture of all nuclear activities in Libya and to take whatever corrective actions that need to be taken." He said he would discuss "practical steps to eliminate any activities that are relevant that could lead to the production of nuclear weapons." He said the IAEA was aware that Libya had imported nuclear equipment and material "that should have been declared to us. There is a question of how much Libya has complied with its verification obligations." And ElBaradei said he would discuss with the IAEA board to what extent Libya had fallen short of commitments to the NPT, which came into effect in 1970. Libya signed the NPT in 1969 and ratified it in 1975. "The Libyans told us that there been some material that should have been declared and was not declared," ElBaradei said. "Clearly there were some cases of failures to report. We will report to the board at our next meeting in March." He added that the Libyans had imported centrifuges and uranium for enrichment. Libyan officials had told the agency that their nuclear programme "was at an initial stage and that no production facilities were developed nor has there been any enrichment of uranium," ElBaradei added. He previously said the IAEA's scrutiny could begin as early as January 2, adding that the inspectors "will take a first shot at what's going on there and visit some of the relevant facilities." The IAEA delegation is made up of about a dozen of the agency's leading experts, according to Gwozdecky. Libya was under international sanctions for years over the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie that killed 270 people. But the United Nations lifted its embargo in September after Tripoli agreed to pay 2.7 billion dollars (2.2 billion euros) in compensation and accept responsibility for the bombing but denied guilt. US sanctions remain in place however. **PHOTO CAPTION*** International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. (AFP/File)