Nujaifi has been pushing to resolve a crisis between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq that he has warned could lead to civil war.

Tensions are high in areas of the north that the Kurdish region wants to incorporate over the strong objections of Baghdad.

There is a significant danger of armed conflict between Arab and Kurdish security forces, a threat illustrated by the reported deployment of a large Kurdish force near the disputed northern city of Kirkuk on Saturday, with orders to attack federal forces if they entered the city.

"Significant progress has been made on the issue through gathering the parties to the crisis at the table of dialogue, and that is after their agreement to determine the time and place to hold meetings," Nujaifi said in a statement issued by his office.

"A technical and military meeting -- the first in this case -- will be held next Monday in the Iraqi ministry of defence in Baghdad," he said, terming it an "important development on the road to defusing the crisis."

A statement on Kurdistan president Massud Barzani's website said he would not attend a meeting with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Najaf, which he was invited to do by powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The statement said the current crisis is not a personal problem between Barzani and Maliki, but rather "a problem of governance in Iraq, and focuses on a lack of commitment to the permanent constitution" and to agreements concluded by the federal government.

A source in the Kurdistan presidency told AFP a large number of Kurdish security forces, known as peshmerga, deployed on Saturday north of the city of Kirkuk, armed with heavy weapons and armoured vehicles.

The source said the peshmerga have orders from Barzani to attack Iraqi government forces from the newly established Tigris Operations Command, which covers a swathe of disputed territory in north Iraq, if they enter Kirkuk city.

Barzani has said peshmerga clashed with Iraqi forces in the disputed town of Tuz Khurmatu on November 16.

He ordered them "to exercise restraint in the face of provocations, but also to be in a highest state of readiness to face any aggressive acts," while Maliki's office later warned the peshmerga "not to change their positions or approach the (federal) armed forces."

The unresolved row over territory poses the biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability, diplomats and officials say. Relations between the two sides are also marred by disputes over oil and power-sharing.