Iranian, European and US officials were preparing to resume talks Saturday in Geneva's historic Town Hall after a break, as part of a bid to resolve the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The EU's diplomatic chief Javier Solana was consulting with his officials after the morning session with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and US State Department official William Burns, European sources said AFP.
Solana and Jalili had lunch together while Burns ate separately with other officials from the so-called 'P5 plus 1' group -- the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany, the sources said.
Neither Solana, Jalili nor Burns made any comments to the press as they returned to the Town Hall. Talks are set to continue until at least 4.00 pm (1400 GMT).
Earlier, a member of the Iranian delegation told reporters that "everybody hopes there will be fruitful results to the negotiations."
Media reports have said world powers have offered to start pre-negotiations over a six-week period during which Tehran would add no more uranium-enriching centrifuges and in return no further sanctions would be imposed -- the so-called "freeze-freeze" approach.
But Kevyan Imani of the Iranian delegation said the focus would rather be "the common points of both packages," referring to the Western package of political, economic and civil nuclear incentives should Iran renounce uranium enrichment, and Iran's own proposals which are nebulously aimed at "solving the world problems."
"It's not about freeze-freeze," he said.
On the European side, Solana's spokeswoman Christina Gallach said that "the basis for successful negotiations is very substantial.
"We are very flexible about how to work towards our expectations... we are ready to look at creative manners that allow negotiations to start," Gallach added.
The attendance of Burns, the number three official at the State Department, marks a major policy shift by Washington, which has not had any diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980 following the Islamic Revolution.
"It's up to him to choose his attitude," Gallach said, but added that his presence was a "strong signal of the US support for a negotiated solution."
The United States insisted last week that Burns was travelling to Geneva just to listen to Iran's response and not negotiate.
Diplomats from the five UN Security Council permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany are also attending the talks.
In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband hailed Burns's attendance as a strong signal of the West's determination to arrive at a negotiated solution.
"The message to Iran is simple: get serious about the real needs of your people, which are for a serious response to year on year diminution in their standard of living, and abandon the fiction that the world is pursuing a vendetta against you," he wrote in a blog on his ministry's website.
Western countries suspect Iran is secretly trying to develop a nuclear bomb and the United Nations has imposed several sets of sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Iran vehemently denies seeking nuclear weapons, insisting that its programme is designed to provide energy for its growing population for the time when its reserves of fossil fuels run out.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Solana (L) is pictured with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili
AFP