UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Talks have began in the Jordanian capital of Amman for the exchange of prisoners in Yemen civil war, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN chief, said on Wednesday.

UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross will take part in the meeting, which is already under way, the spokesman said.

Griffiths thanked the government of Jordan via Twitter for its approval to host the meeting as well as for its continued support for efforts to bring peace to Yemen, Dujarric said.

He described the session as more of a "technical" meeting on logistics.

Briefing the UN Security Council last week, Griffiths said the United Nations was working with both the Yemeni government and the Houthis to finalize the lists of prisoners submitted by each party in Stockholm talks in December.

He expressed the hope that the talks in Amman would allow many thousands of prisoners to go home and be reunited with their families.