German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will follow Miliband two hours later.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Monday that he expects the separate meetings to be "very substantive," touching on many important issues including Iran and Afghanistan.

"I think Iran is certainly going to be up there near the top," Wood said. "You know, Afghanistan, which is central to this administration's foreign policy."

Steinmeier's spokesman, Jens Ploetner, said the minister's meeting would touch on a wide range of issues including the situation in Afghanistan, climate change, the global financial crisis and a NATO summit coming in April.