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EU/IMF mission chiefs leave Athens briefly for Brussels talks

ATHENS (Reuters) - Mission chiefs of Greece's European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders left Athens on Friday for consultations in Brussels adjourning the country's key bailout review for one day, a government official said.

Technical teams of the lenders remained in Athens, the official said. A meeting of the mission chiefs would go ahead as scheduled with Greece's labour minister on Saturday after their return.

"They departed for one day. They are going to Brussels for deliberations and they will be back," the official told Reuters.

Representatives of the lenders started new consultations in Athens this week on signing off on Greece's progress in adopting terms of a multi-billion euro bailout.

If concluded, the review will pave the way for talks on debt relief with the EU and potentially unlock additional funds from the bailout, which is worth up to 86 billion euros in total spread out over three years.

Athens needs the money to repay 3.5 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank in July, as well as unpaid domestic bills.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Renee Maltezou Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)