South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed to do their "utmost" to make progress in the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two sides during a telephone conversation Sunday morning, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.

Song discussed the South Korea-U.S. FTA and the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula with Rice at Rice's request, a ministry spokesman told reporters.

The two ministers discussed their key interests in the FTA as the negotiations are approaching the final stage and agreed to do their utmost to overcome various difficulties with a strong political will, the spokesman said.

As to the nuclear issues, Rice told Song that Washington was working closely with all involved parties to resolve "technical issues" preventing progress in six-party talks, the spokesman said.

South Korea and the United States agreed on Saturday to extend their FTA talks in Seoul by local time 10 a.m. Monday (0100 GMT Monday).

South Korea and the United States launched their FTA talks in June last year. The two governments have planned to reach a final pact by April 2 as the U.S. government has to submit the FTA document to the congress until April 2 for a mandatory 90-day congressional review to implement U.S. President George W. Bush's "fast-track" trade promotion authority, which expires on July 1.

If the two countries reach a final pact by April 2, the U.S. congress will vote on the FTA deal without amendments. The pact also needs approval of South Korea's National Assembly.

In 2006, the trade volume between South Korea and the United States was 74 billion U.S. dollars. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency estimated earlier that the trade volume was expected to increase by 20 percent if the FTA takes effect.

Source: Xinhua