STOCKHOLM, July 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced Monday that Norway will host a meeting of Haiti's main political parties in late August to prepare for Haiti's national elections next year, reports reaching here said.

    The meeting, which is set to be held during Aug. 23-30, will mainly discuss the role that the Haitian political parties can play ahead of the 2005 elections in the country.

    The ministry didn't give details about which Haitian political parties would attend the meeting.

    A US-led multinational force with 3,600 troops was deployed to Haiti after a rebellion forced President Jean Bertrand Aristide tostep down and leave the poor Caribbean country in exile in February.

    A 6,700-strong peacekeeping force and more than 1,600 international police, which are led by a UN mission in Haiti, started to replace the US-led multinational forces in Haiti since June 1. Enditem