Iraq vowed to meet the first big test under a UN resolution by providing a complete account of its arms programme, and chief UN weapons inspector Mr Hans Blix said today Baghdad pledged full co-operation.
A United Nations Security Council resolution requires Baghdad to grant inspectors unfettered access to suspected sites or face a possible US-led attack to force disarmament.
"We had good discussions with representatives of the Iraqi government and (they) assured us they will fully implement the resolution and cooperate with us, so it was a constructive visit," Mr Blix told reporters.
Egypt's Mohamed El Baradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who is accompanying Mr Blix said: "They (Iraqi officials) made it very clear they will do everything possible to co-operate."
The United States has accused Baghdad of using the four years since UN inspectors were last in Iraq to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Iraqi newspapers said today the inspectors would soon verify that Iraq had no such weapons and the United Nations should lift sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War.
US President George Bush, in Prague for a NATO summit, is due to kick off his campaign to win political support for his hardline policy against Iraq with a series of meetings today with world leaders, including Turkish President Mr Ahmet Necdet Sezer and British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair.
Mr Bush has said the inspections, on the tough terms set out in Security Council Resolution 1441, are Baghdad's last chance to abandon peacefully its alleged chemical, biological and nuclear arms programmes. Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov said Iraq's agreement to let arms inspectors return had deflected the likelihood of war.