Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The meeting is expected to discuss the latest developments in the Iranian nuclear programme and security in the Gulf.

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy and security chief, said Saturday evening that he would join the meeting.

Both Rice and Solana are in Sharm el-Sheikh for an international meeting on Middle East peace.

It was not immediately clear whether the other two members of the so-called Mideast Quartet, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, would take part in the meeting.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is also in Sharm el- Sheikh, but it was not clear whether he would participate in the meeting.

Rice and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and the six Arab Gulf states - Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman - have held regular meetings over the past two years to discuss Gulf security.

Earlier this year, Iraq joined the meetings.

In press statements made in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday evening, Solana said that it was important to keep an eye on Iran's nuclear programme.

Solana said that Tehran should not be sensitive about the meeting as it was not designed to oppose Iran and was only meant to review the situation. (dpa)