UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi are due to meet for the first time Friday during round-table talks at the United Nations, U.N. and U.S. officials said.

They will take part in group discussions on Afghanistan that include that country's six immediate neighbors, plus Russia and the United States.

U.N. officials said Secretary General Kofi Annan would chair the meeting of the six-plus-two group, as it is known. The group is to meet at foreign minister level for the first time in two years.

U.S. officials said the meeting was thought to be the first between a U.S. Secretary of State and an Iranian foreign minister for 20 years.

Albright attended a six-plus-two meeting two years ago, but Iran did not, they said.

The foreign ministers were in New York for the two-week general debate of world leaders that starts each annual U.N. General Assembly session.

U.S. officials said Albright would travel to Washington on Friday morning but return to New York in time for the six-plus-two meeting.

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