The last round of six-party talks was "useful despite remaining
difficulties and disagreements" between partners on some issues,
Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The sixth round had been preceded by "inaugural meetings of
three multilateral working groups: on economic and energy
cooperation, on denuclearization, and on the mechanism for peace
and security for Northeast Asia under Russian chairmanship," the
ministry said.
"In the course of the round, the Russian delegation proposed
that a 'road map' for further moves be drafted by joint efforts so
that synchronous moves by North Korea toward denuclearization and
compensatory reciprocal measures by its partners are clearly set by
such a document," the ministry said.
"On the whole, the meetings were conducive to more specific
understanding of near and long-term tasks," the ministry said.
Top Chinese envoy to the six-party talks Wu Dawei said in a
Chairman's Statement Thursday that the six parties listened to
reports by the five working groups, and conducted discussions on
implementing the initial actions and an action plan for the next
phase.
The parties agreed that they will continue to advance the
process of the six-party talks, and reaffirmed that they will
faithfully carry out their commitments in the Sept. 19 joint
statement and the Feb. 13 joint document, in which North Korea
agreed to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility in return for
energy aid.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)
