Amman, July 10, SPA -- U.S. Undersecretary of State RobertZoellick met with Iraqi officials Sunday to discuss ways toboost reconstruction efforts in the war-wracked country. Zoellick's meetings with Iraqi finance and planningministers Ali Allawi and Barham Salih were held behindclosed doors at an Amman hotel and reporters were bannedaccess, The Associated Press reported. While U.S. and Iraqi embassy officials declined to commentat the start of the two-day meetings, a U.S. Embassystatement said Zoellick would discuss "strategy and nextsteps with his Iraqi counterparts on a number of issuesranging from economic and agriculture reform to thecontinued development of the oil and electricity sectors inIraq." Zoellick, who flew in from Sudan earlier Sunday, is on aregional tour which is also expected to take him to Egypt.He met separately with Jordan's King Abdullah II, butdetails on the talks were not immediately available. The U.S. Embassy statement said Zoellick's Iraqi talkswere part of the U.S.-Iraq Joint Commission onReconstruction and Economic Development _ a body whichoversees cooperation between Washington and Baghdad andaims to transform Iraq's state-dominated economy into aninvestment-friendly environment. The meetings were held in Jordan because of securityhazards in neighboring Iraq. On Monday, Zoellick and the Iraqi officials were expectedto sign four agreements, which the brief statement did notspecify. No other details were immediately available.--SPA1345 Local Time 1045 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/275834