SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on all countries Thursday to forgive Iraq’s foreign debts on the opening day of an international gathering on the country’s future.

In another development, the United States looked likely to meet with some of its staunchest Mideast foes – Syria and Iran – at the strong urging of Iraq and other Arab countries at the summit here.

In his speech opening the conference, Mr. al-Maliki also pledged to institute reforms that the United States and Sunni Arab governments have repeatedly called for, including bringing more Sunni Arabs into the Iraqi political process.

Mr. Al-Maliki said forgiving Iraq of its debts was the only way the country could embark on much needed reconstruction projects.

“The national unity government has embarked on a national reconstruction program and needs huge finances for these project,” he said. “We call on all the friends and brothers participating in this conference to forgive Iraq all its debts in order to enable it to start the projects.”

Iraq owes some $50 billion, notably to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and China, according to Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr. The debts were run up mostly during former leader Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran in the 1980s.

Another $100 billion already has been written off by the Paris Club of lender nations.

“We express our thanks and appreciation for all countries which have either canceled or reduced the debts incurred on Iraq,” Mr. al-Maliki said.

A high-level meeting between America and Syria seemed set for as early as Thursday, but the possibility of a more dramatic face-to-face American meeting with Iran was still up in the air.

Secretary of State Rice said she was willing to talk with Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, after years of accusations and name-calling between the nations.

“If we encounter each other, then I’m certainly planning to be polite, to see what that encounter brings,” Ms. Rice said of a potential discussion with Mottaki.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed interest, too. He said Wednesday that Tehran would welcome talks with America on the sidelines of the conference, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

“The Iranian nation welcomes honest dialogue” with the U.S., Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech in the southern Iranian city of Sirjan. He also warned that it would be a mistake to think the U.S. could pressure Iran into rolling back its nuclear program with dialogue.

Ms. Rice could meet Thursday with her Syrian counterpart, moderate foreign minister Walid Moallem, said an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Ms. Rice was noncommittal but said she wouldn’t rule out such a meeting, nor would her aides. “We’ll see who’s there and what conversations take place,” she said.

America has put both regional heavyweight Iran and the less influential Syria in diplomatic deep freeze in recent years, and until recently Rice dismissed the notion of talking to them.

But the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, American allies and lawmakers of both parties have urged President Bush to reconsider in the hope that Iran and Syria can be persuaded to use their influence inside Iraq.

Iraq and many Arab countries have been particularly eager, even desperate, for such talks – saying they are only the way to stabilize Iraq and lessen Iran’s growing influence in the region.

Mr. Al-Maliki, whose own ties to Iran have sometimes made his American backers nervous, told Ms. Rice during a Wednesday meeting that Iraq suffers from being caught in the middle of competing international interests, according to his advisers.

Iraqi Planning Minister Ali Baban said Mr. al-Maliki told Ms. Rice that “a rapprochement must take place between you and the nations of the region to solve the issue of Iraq, particularly Syria and Iran.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr. Baban quoted Ms. Rice as replying:

“That’s true. If a meeting should take place by accident, we won’t refuse.”

The two-day conference in this Red Sea resort town is expected to bring together officials from Iraq, America, Iran, Russia, China, Europe and Arab nations.

If Ms. Rice meets with Mr. Moallem, it would be the first such high-level talks since the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria denies it had anything to do with the killing, but American and European officials have since shunned the Damascus government.

America has not had relations with Iran since 1979.

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Associated Press writers Anne Gearan and Salah Nasrawi contributed to this report.