The US said on Tuesday that important progress was made in the fourth round of six-party talks in Beijing and believed that an agreement will be reached.

"We have made important progress in this round of talks. There is agreement among five nations, a consensus that we need a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," White House deputy spokesperson Trent Duffy said at a news briefing.

"We anticipate a reconvening of the talks on August 29, so we believe there has been important progress and we are still optimistic that some agreement can be reached," he said.

In addition, State Department deputy spokesperson Adam Ereli said on Monday 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," Ereli said.

China announced on Sunday that all the six parties to the fourth round of the Korean nuclear issue talks agreed to take a three-week recess and resume the talks in the week beginning August 29.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2005)