Middle East Quartet envoys to meet in Brussels

The international community's top negotiators on the Middle East conflict, including former US senator George Mitchell, are to meet in Brussels on Wednesday, officials confirmed, DPA reported.

The envoys of the so-called Quartet of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union are set to "speak about the way forward" in the decades-old conflict, European Commission spokesman Lutz Guellner told journalists on Monday.

Guellner is spokesman for the EU's newly-nominated foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who on Monday afternoon was set to face her appointment hearing in the European Parliament.

Ashton is not expected to attend the Wednesday meeting, Guellner said. Instead, Mitchell is due to hold talks with the EU's dedicated Middle East envoy, Marc Otte, and his Russian and UN counterparts.