HANOI. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia and China have agreed to seek the soonest possible resumption of the six-nation negotiations on the nuclear problem of North Korea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Russia and China have decided "to act firmly and in tandem on the North Korea problem so as to resume the six-nation talks as soon as possible," Lavrov told journalists following Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao's negotiations in Hanoi on Saturday.
"I believe the APEC leaders will support the position that was expressed in a Security Council resolution and in the work on which Russia and China were actively involved," he said.
"If we can find mutually acceptable agreements now, this will make it possible to improve the nonproliferation regime. But if we drive this and that situation into a dead end, the threats will significantly increase," Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister suggested that a special statement on North Korea could be made at the APEC summit.
As for the talks between the Russian and Chinese leaders, they dealt with trade and economic ties, nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, and the problems of North Korea and Iran in this context, Lavrov said.
Putin said he hopes the Year of China in Russia will be as successful as the Year of Russia has been in China. "We hope Mr. Hu Jintao can attend the opening of this year in Moscow just as President Putin traveled to China to attend the opening of the Russia Year at the beginning of 2006," Lavrov said.