ISLAMABAD, March 1: Pakistani and Russian foreign ministers discussed the Iraqi crisis and bilateral ties on telephone on Saturday and agreed to visit each other’s country “in the near future”, the foreign ministry said.

A ministry statement said the talk lasted 40 minutes after Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov telephoned Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri.

“The two foreign ministers discussed bilateral relations and the latest developments with regard to the Iraqi crisis,” it said.

The talk was the first high-level contact between the two countries after President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Russia last month when the two countries agreed to develop cooperation in various fields.

It also happened amid efforts by the United States and Britain to seek support for the use of force to disarm Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction and by countries such as Russia, France and Germany for giving more time to UN weapons inspectors.

The foreign ministry statement said Mr Ivanov spoke to Mr Kasuri about the “Russian position with regard to the Iraqi situation” in the framework of a memorandum Russia had presented to the Security Council on Feb 24 together with France and Germany for a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

It quoted the Russian minister as saying that Moscow was awaiting the report of chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and said he “underlined the necessity that inspectors be given real chance to carry out disarmament of Iraq”.

The statement said the Russian minister referred to his recent visit to China to discuss the Iraqi crisis and a forthcoming visit to Britain in this regard.

“Foreign minister Kasuri reiterated Pakistan’s position in favour of a peaceful resolution of the problem,” it said.

“While supporting fully (the view) that the Iraq crisis should be resolved in accordance with Security Council resolutions, Foreign Minister Kasuri said that Pakistan would remain in touch with Russia as well as other members of the Security Council on the Iraqi situation,” the statement said.