President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun have reportedly agreed to hold a meeting soon that would likely lead to the formation of a new cabinet.

Aoun's Orange television, which carried the report late Sunday, did not say when the two leaders would meet.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, however, said the meeting is likely to take place on Monday.

Orange TV said the agreement to hold the bilateral talks came during a telephone contact between Suleiman and Aoun on Sunday.

Suleiman made a surprise visit to his hometown of Amsheet on Sunday, three weeks after his election as President.

A crowd of villagers from Amsheet and nearby towns rushed to welcome Suleiman.

MP Walid Khoury of Aoun's Change and Reform parliamentary bloc was also there to meet the President.

Khoury said Suleiman and Aoun were "regularly" contacting each other "in an effort to overcome the obstacles facing the formation of the new government."

In response to a question, Khoury stressed that Aoun was "the first to suggest Suleiman's name as a consensus President."

News reports on Monday said similar contacts took place on Sunday between Prime Minister-designate Fouad Saniora and Aoun.

They said the delay in the formation of the new government revolves around the conditions set by Aoun.

Aoun said on Saturday that giving Suleiman two key cabinet posts entitles him to pick a Muslim candidate for one ministry and a Christian nominee for the other.

"When the President is being (given control over the allocation) of two sovereign portfolios, then one (post) should go to Christians and the other to Muslims," Aoun said.

This was interpreted as an indirect attempt to prevent caretaker Defense Minister Elias Murr from keeping his post.

Murr, meanwhile, was reportedly tipped by Suleiman for defense minister.

The opposition, however, appeared to be against Murr's appointment to any of the four key ministries.

The opposition was earlier reportedly not convinced of deeming Murr a neutral figure. It believed that appointing Murr as part of the president's quota was tantamount to giving the majority an additional cabinet minister.

The pro-government majority March 14 coalition was said to be reviewing Aoun's offer.

The daily An Nahar on Monday said March 14 believes that Aoun's suggestion "needs additional clarification."

It quoted sources from the majority as talking about "undeclared" conditions set by the opposition, among them that the issue of arms not be tackled during the coming dialogue.

Round-table national talks are expected to take place as soon as the new cabinet is announced.

Another condition, according to the sources, is giving Murr a non-sovereign cabinet post and driving him out of the parliamentary elections due in 2009.