Six-Party joint document could arrive today
By Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-01 05:26

The heads of the six delegations agreed on Saturday morning that a joint document would be issued to record the results of this round of talks.

They had spent Saturday afternoon reviewing a draft statement put forward by China, host of the talks.

The draft joint document reportedly outlines broad principles regarding Pyongyang's dismantling of its nuclear programmes, security guarantees for Pyongyang from participating countries, economic assistance and normalization of diplomatic relations.

The US delegation described the draft as representing "a good basis for further negotiations and further discussion".

Diplomats said progress at the talks would be slow, with US chief negotiator Christopher Hill telling reporters on Saturday that it was hard to tell when a final text would be produced. "We know it takes time," he said.