UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will hold consultations on Iraq with representatives of the country's neighbors, Egypt and selected members of the Security Council, a UN spokesman said Wednesday.  

Spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters at a press briefing that the meeting will be held at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.

The council participants will be the five permanent members and five of the 10 elected members, Angola, Chile, Germany, Spain and Pakistan.

The group will also includes all of Iraq's six neighbors, he said, adding it was not unusual for the UN chief to form a small group of advisors on any given subject.

The spokesman went on to say that Annan has always emphasized the need for all the countries in the region, and others, to be pulling in the same direction on Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2003)