Top US negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill said the chief delegates meeting would end Thursday with a chairman statement to be released in the afternoon.

The statement will "preview the overall time frame" of completing the implementation of second phase, Hill told reporters before leaving a hotel in downtown Beijing for the second day's talk.

However, the date for next round's full six-party meeting won't be set on Thursday's meeting, according to Hill.

"We'll have a lot of bilateral meetings today, and I'll also meet senior officials of the Chinese Foreign Ministry," Hill said.

He said chief negotiators would have discussions on starting the working groups.

"We should rely on them because there are a lot of technical issues to be resolved," He said, adding that it's really important to get the working groups going.

Thursday's discussions will also cover what nuclear facilities should be included in the declaration of North Korea.

Hill said the US was willing to do part of the heavy oil supply to North Korea, however, "we need the working groups to work out details of the heavy oil equivalent."

He said that the US also "has an open mind to the matter" of providing additional economic aid for North Korea.

Hill also urged Japan and North Korea to hold bilateral meetings to discuss their concerns.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2007)