"I think we are making progress," Blix told reporters after his meeting with Iraqi officials at the Foreign Ministry.

Among those present in the talks were Amer al-Saadi, an adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and Hosam Amin, head of Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate.

More talks are expected to take place Tuesday before Blix leavesIraq the following day.

Blix and an advance team of about two dozen members touched downat Baghdad's Saddam International Airport earlier the day on a chartered C-130 Hercules cargo plane painted with the huge "UN" initial.

It is a "new opportunity" in the interests of both Iraq and the world to defuse the "tense situation," Blix told waiting reporters upon arrival at the airport.

"I hope we'll take the opportunity together," said Blix, who wasaccompanied by Mohamed El Baradei, director of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Before their departure from Cyprus, Ewen Buchanan, spokesman forthe team, described the eye-catching mission as "a new chapter," expecting cooperation from Iraqi officials in a "thorough and independent inspection."

On the eve of his departure for Baghdad, Blix made it clear that "the question of war and peace remains first of all in the hands of Iraq and the UN Security Council and members of the Security Council."

The advance group will reopen offices in Baghdad to prepare for inspection operations authorized by the UN Security Council to determine if Iraq has pursued programs of development weapons of mass destruction.

Blix has said preliminary inspections are expected to resume on Nov. 27, but full-scale checks will not start until Iraq files a declaration of its prohibited weapons programs by a Dec. 8 deadline.

Blix, a 74-year-old Swede, is head of the New York-based UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which will search for biological and chemical weapons and the long-range missiles in Iraq.

The IAEA led by El Baradei will determine if Iraq has a secret program to develop nuclear arms.

Iraq, which has insisted that it does not have any such weapons,on Wednesday agreed to allow UN arms inspectors to return to Iraq in search of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1441.

The resolution gives Iraq "a final opportunity" to eliminate itsnuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the long-range missiles.

It also gives inspectors the right to go anywhere at any time and warns Iraq that it will face "serious consequences" if failing to cooperate with the United Unions.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2002)