Oddsson is hoping to convince the US to maintain a strong presence at the Keflavik base, which was an important American station during World War II and a NATO base during the Cold War, but which has seen its importance diminish considerably in recent years.

"The purpose of this meeting ... is to bring the negotiations into a fixed channel and bring an end to the uncertainty regarding the future of the Iceland Defense Force," Oddsson said in an address to parliament last week.

The US is bound by a 53-year-old defense treaty requiring it to provide Iceland, which has no military of its own, with a sufficient defense.

In May last year however, US ambassador to Iceland James Gadsden told Oddsson, then the prime minister, that the last four F-14 fighter jets would be moved from the Keflavik base, effectively leaving Iceland without an air defense.

That move was put on hold after Oddsson in a meeting with US President George W. Bush pointed out that such a unilateral decision would be a violation of the 1951 US-Icelandic defense treaty and would lead to the closure of the Keflavik base.

While Iceland has not opposed a reduction of US military material and forces on the island, and has said it would be willing to increase its contribution to the upkeep of the Keflavik airport, "it has been strongly emphasized on the part of Iceland that the country needs defense preparedness, like all our allied and neighboring states," Oddsson said in his address to parliament last week.

Icelandic Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson told AFP that he did not expect that Colin Powell's resignation, announced on Monday, would have any impact on Tuesday's negotiations.

"I do hope that the results of these negotiations will be that the US will maintain air defense. We do not consider it to be sufficient to have the fighter jets based elsewhere," he said.

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