The US commends China for its role in hosting and moving forward the six-party talks, State Department deputy spokesperson Adam Ereli said at a news briefing Monday.  

"We certainly commend and appreciate the Chinese government for the really great work they did in convening the talks, in moving the talks forward, in working up the draft joint statements that were the basis for so much of the negotiations in Beijing," Ereli said.

As to the six-party talks, Ereli said that "good progress" was made during 13 days of talks in Beijing.

"We have before us a draft declaration of principles. We would expect and hope that we can come back in three weeks to conclude an agreement on that draft," he said.

China announced on Sunday that all the six parties to the fourth round of the Korean nuclear talks agreed to take a recess and resume the talks in the week beginning August 29. However, a specific date of when the six-party talks will resume is yet to be set.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2005)