Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday held a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart Song Min-soon on the six-party talks.

Positive progress has been made in the resolution of a banking dispute involving funds of North Korea, thanks to efforts of all the parties concerned, Yang said.

North Korea has already sent an invitation to the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the country, he noted.

China hopes that all the relevant parties would continue to adopt positive measures to honor their commitments and create a favorable environment for implementing the initial steps.

In a joint document signed on February 13, the six parties agreed to a 60-day deadline to implement a series of initial steps.

Yang said China will continue to make unremitting efforts to push forward the process of the six-party talks and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Song said South Korea is ready to work with other parties to the talks for early implementation of the initial steps.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2007)