WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States said Monday it was ready to hold rare talks with two visiting key Syrian officials this week, in another signal of Washington's recent policy shift to engage directly with its enemies.

Riad Daoudi, Syrian lead negotiator with Israeli officials in Turkey and legal adviser to the Syrian foreign ministry, and Ahmad Samir al-Taki, a consultant to the Syrian prime minister, are in Washington on a private trip.
Part of a four-member group from Damascus, they will participate at a forum ""Engaging Syria: new negotiations, old challenges"" at Washington-based Brookings Institution on Wednesday.
Their visit is sponsored by Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in Washington and Brussels, which had sought a meeting for them with the State Department.
""It is customary for us to receive such visitors and Near Eastern Assistant Secretary of State David Welch is prepared to meet with them,"" State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters.
But he stressed that they were not official talks, as Daoudi and Al-Taki ""will be acting in their private capacity.""
Still, the proposed meeting comes in the wake of a tactical shift in the Bush administration's Middle East dealings following the participation of the State Department's number three official, William Burns.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will come face to face this week with North Korea's foreign minister -- their first encounter -- as part of informal ministerial talks among six nations involved in ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive.
Gallegos said the precise date for the talks with the Syrian officials had not been determined yet.
Welch in his talks would explain ""our policies and positions and hoping that all participants in that meeting will return home with a clear understanding of why the U.S. government has its policies,"" a State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The State Department last week welcomed a decision by Lebanon and Syria to open diplomatic relations announced during a landmark visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to France.
Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, ending a military presence of nearly three decades.
Key U.S. ally Israel has been holding indirect negotiations with Syria, sponsored by Turkey after an eight-year freeze.
Washington will continue to limit its diplomatic engagement ""unless Syria takes concrete actions to end its destabilizing tactics in the region,"" the State Department said after Assad's landmark trip to France.