With the Mosul battle in its second week, French President Francois Hollande called for the coalition against the Islamic State group to prepare for the aftermath and the next stages of the war against IS.
Forces from the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) retook areas close to the eastern outskirts of Mosul, IS's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
"On our front, we have advanced to within five or six kilometres (three to four miles) of Mosul," their commander, General Abdelghani al-Assadi, told AFP.
Kurdish peshmerga forces are making gains on the northeastern front, but federal forces advancing from the south have some way to go before reaching the outskirts.
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Meanwhile, thousands of men from the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary umbrella group dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias were preparing for a push to the west of Mosul.
The Hashed leadership has ordered "us to assume the mission of liberating the Tal Afar district", said Jawwad al-Tulaibawi, spokesman for the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, referring to an area west of the mainly Sunni city.
"We expect that it will be a difficult and fierce battle," he said.
Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed the Hashed's participation in the operation, as has Turkey, which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by Baghdad to withdraw its forces.
Tensions have risen between Baghdad and Ankara, whose foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, warned Tuesday that if there is a threat to Turkey, "we are ready to use all our resources including a ground operation".
Besides coordinating their support for the forces closing in on Mosul, ministers will also attempt to iron out differences over priorities in the campaign.
France is keen to tackle the jihadists' Syria bastion Raqa, where a large number of French foreign fighters in IS ranks are stationed.
As the ministers met, Hollande warned that "the recapture is not an end in itself. We must already anticipate the consequences of the fall of Mosul."