Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov have held talks in London. Following discussions, both Ministers held a joint press conference.

On the issue of Iraq, Mr Straw said:

"The United Kingdom and the Russian Federation share the same objective in respect of Iraq, which is Iraq's disarmament of its weapons of mass destruction. We worked very closely together, and co-operatively together, during an intense period of negotiation leading to 1441 on 8 November.

"There are some outstanding questions about how we achieve this overall objective, but I believe that if we maintain as intensive a dialogue of the kind that we have been having, then it may be possible to resolve those outstanding questions in a satisfactory manner."

Mr Ivanov added:

"It is well known that there may be different views on how this common goal that we are seeking, that we are trying to achieve, can be achieved ... and we continue our constructive dialogue on this issue."

ENDS