Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki is scheduled to attend the meetings of the International Compact with Iraq (ICI) slated for May 3 in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a Iraqi diplomat said on Saturday.

Saad Reda, the Iraqi Charge d'affaires in Cairo, made the announcement after Saturday's preparatory meeting for Iraq's neighboring countries and Egypt at Egypt's Foreign Ministry, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported.

The preparatory meeting probed the final statement due to be issued by a meeting of Iraq's neighboring countries' foreign ministers, according to Reda.

On April 30, there will be another preparatory meeting to endorse the draft communique and formulate the draft final statement prepared by Egypt, Reda added.

Earlier, Maliki said that the conferences of the ICI and Iraq's neighboring countries due to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh on May 3-4 aimed to provide political, security and economic support for Iraq and to direct the political process in the right direction.

Maliki hoped that the conferences would produce concrete steps that could contribute to the success of the new Iraqi experiment and help the Iraqi people find a way out of their current distress.

The ICI is an Iraqi initiative cosponsored by the United Nations. It seeks to consolidate peace in the conflict-torn country and pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years.

Most foreign ministers of Iraq's neighbors as well as Bahrain and Egypt, the G8, and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council will attend the conferences.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2007)