US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted onthe eve of the talks that Gadhafi's days were numbered, with the colonel hanging on inTripoli despite four months of NATO-led bombings backing up rebels battling his four-decade regime.
Foreign ministers from several other major powers will also attend the gathering in Istanbul.
The so-called International Contact Group on Libya will ponder the chances of negotiating a political settlement to the conflict with representatives of the regime -- excluding Gadhafi and his inner circle -- and the rebels, officials said.
The UN envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, will brief participants on his recent talks with both Tripoli and the rebels at their stronghold of Benghazi, a Turkish diplomat said.
"Ideas are maturing on how to launch a political track through the mediating role of the United Nations," Italy's foreign ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari said.
"The fundamental point is that Gadhafi is not part of this political process. A dialogue with members of the regime who are not Kadhafi's family or officials on thesanctions list could be the basis for this process," he said.
On Tuesday, Gadhafi's prime minister told France's Le Figaro daily that the embattled regime was ready to begin talks with Paris and Libyan rebels"without preconditions" and without input from Gadhafi(ASCOLOGY NEWS)
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