Helsinki - Representatives of several warring Iraqi factions said Monday they have concluded a second round of closed-door talks in Finland.

Delegates said after the three-day meeting that they had agreed to meet in Baghdad in July.

"We have taken steps, even leaps forward," Osama Al-Tikriti of the Iraqi Islamic Party said according to Finnish news agency STT.

They agreed on the principles of how to promote national reconciliation and use dialogue to solve political disputes, a statement issued by the convenors said.

The meeting was co-organized by the Crisis Management Initiative, an organization headed by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has served as mediator in various international conflicts.

Just like the initial seminar in September, delegates with experience from bridging political and other divides in Northern Ireland and South Africa took part.

"We are delighted that it is the Iraqis themselves who have taken ownership of this process by inviting us to Baghdad for the next meeting," said project director, Professor Padraig O'Malley of the University of Massachusetts Boston, US.

The Iraqi delegates included Akram Al-Halkim, minister for national reconciliation, as well as Sheikh Hamoudi, chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) of the Iraqi National Assembly, Fouad Maasoom, member of the CRC and member of the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK), and Dawa Party parliamentary leader Ali Adeeb.

Missing from the meeting were representatives of the Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who apparently missed their flight over an attack, STT said. (dpa)