UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced Monday morning that he is to attend the international meeting that would take place in Rome Tuesday on Lebanon.

Annan told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that he would leave for Rome Monday afternoon.

He said that he hoped that a package would emerge from the discussions in Rome "that would allow us to take concrete measures to resolve the Lebanon crisis."

The secretary-general also noted that among the steps that would be discussed were a cessation of hostilities, ideas about an international force and the release of the abducted soldiers.

What is important is to arrive at a set of measures that can be implemented simultaneously, rather than sequentially, he added.

Source: Xinhua