India, Russia, China welcome Korean nuclear agreement (1st Lead)

Feb 14, 2007, 9:31 GMT

New Delhi - India, Russia and China welcomed the success reached at the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue in Beijing at a meeting of their foreign ministers in New Delhi Wednesday.

'The world's crises must be resolved through dialogue rather than confrontation,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press briefing after the meeting.

He said his discussions with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and China's Li Zhaoxing covered a wide range of global issues based on a common approach to international affairs.

Lavrov said the three delegations discussed the crisis in the Middle East, the situation in Iraq and the Iranian nuclear crisis besides the Korean problem.

The leaders also said multilateral diplomacy was the need of the hour and the role of the United Nations needed to be strengthened and made more effective.

Mukherjee said they had agreed to continue interaction in the trilateral form and the next meeting would be hosted by China.

'We hope to strengthen peace and security in the region and around the world through our interaction,' he said.

It was the second such meeting between the three countries since the one held in Vladivostok in 2005, a spokesman for India's Foreign Ministry said. Two informal meetings have taken place on the sidelines of international gatherings since then.