Adding to the complexity of the situation, a U.N. report released just after the Baghdad talks said that inspectors had found a high level of enriched uranium in Iran.

CNN: Talks over Iran's nuclear program resume in Moscow

In the afternoon, he held talks with a high-level Iranian delegation at the same place.

NPR: Kurdistan Caught in Middle of Iran-U.S. Tensions

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he had held peace talks with a high-level Chechen official several days ago, but they ended in failure, Interfax news agency reported.

BBC: News Online

High-level talks were suspended for a year in protest at sales of weapons to Taiwan, but were resumed just ahead of Mr Hu's trip when Robert Gates, the secretary of defence, was in Beijing.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

This year, Mottaki is back at Davos, and Barack Obama is in the White House after a campaign in which he said he was open to high-level talks with Iran.

FORBES: Mottaki At Davos, On Diplomacy And Obama

In January, a high-level Iraqi delegation is expected at UN headquarters in New York for talks with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on how to break the deadlock.

BBC: Analysis: Saddam's route out of sanctions

The Labwani verdict comes a week after a ground-breaking meeting between Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a summit in Egypt - the first time the two countries held such high-level talks since the death of Mr Hariri in 2005.

BBC: NEWS | Middle East | Syrian reformer 'jailed 12 years'

And as a consequence, Minister Krishna led a delegation to Washington to follow up, and working with Secretary Clinton, conducted some very high-level talks.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama & Prime Minister Singh at G20 Summit