91.   Sinn Fein has been holding exploratory talks with British civil servants since December and only Wednesday, after long insistence, progressed to the ministerial level.

92.   Sinn Fein has been holding exploratory talks with British civil servants since December, but has been expressing growing impatience that the talks move to the ministerial level.

93.   Syria and the European Union held useful exploratory talks here Monday on a bilateral association accord, a EU official said.

94.   Suharto also let roving ambassador Francisco Xavier Lopes Da Cruz hold exploratory talks with East Timor exiles.

95.   Taiwan has initiated similar exploratory FTA talks with the United States and Japan.

96.   The exploratory talks in Belfast are to center on disarming the Irish Republican Army which has battled British rule in Northern Ireland.

97.   The move opens the way for exploratory talks with Sinn Fein to open before the end of the year.

98.   The Northern Ireland peace process came under renewed pressure Wednesday when the two main loyalist parties threatened to boycott exploratory talks with the British government.