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)