EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed Tuesday that world powers would hold talks with Iran on its contested nuclear drive on February 26 and said she hoped to see "concrete progress".

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed Tuesday that world powers would hold talks with Iran on its contested nuclear drive on February 26 and said she hoped to see "concrete progress".

Confirming a fresh round of talks in Kazakhstan, the first since June last year, Ashton's office said in a statement that "she hopes that the talks will be productive and that concrete progress can be made".

The statement said European Union deputy negotiator Helga Schmid agreed with her Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri that a new round of the so-called P5+1 talks "will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 26th February".

Ashton represents the P5+1 group of the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Ashton "hopes that the talks will be productive and that concrete progress can be made towards a negotiated solution to meet the international community's concerns about the Iranian nuclear program," the statement read.