The Iraqi government will next week hold talks with representatives of insurgent groups in the country in an effort to quell the violence that has mired Iraq, The Times reported on Thursday.
Citing the Iraqi National Dialogue and Reconciliation Minister Akram Al-Hakim, the newspaper said that the one-day conference will be held either on November 28 or 29, and will pave the way for a subsequent meeting outside Iraq, either in Damascus or Amman in December or January.
"Indirectly, we are in contact with them, their messages are sent back and forth through intermediaries," Hakim was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"They have declared that they are ready to enter into the political process."
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki will attend the conference with other prominent officials and MPs, the newspaper said, while British and American diplomats and coalition military officers have also been invited.
A spokesman for the British foreign ministry could not immediately confirm that British diplomats have been invited to any such conference.
The summit, which has apparently been postponed twice already, will not include terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or the Mahdi Army, but will address the question of Shia militias.
The Mahdi Army, in particular, will not attend because the Shia government believes it can deal with them within the community.
Hakim said that Iraqi government delegates had also met with members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party.
Both the cabinet and parliament will have to give formal approval for both insurgents and members of the Ba'ath Party to attend the talks, The Times said.
Hakim said that while he faced opposition from within Shia ranks for talking to groups that many view as the enemy, he noted that he had Maliki's endorsement.