The statement prompted Turkey to cancel planned ministerial-level talks on economic cooperation with the community countries.

Plans for ministerial-level talks on 27 April were cancelled by Thailand on the evening of the 26th.

It was described as a "commentary on the state of affairs between the two countries, where sub-committees, committees and ministerial-level talks are the panacea for all problems".

On March 22 Britain began ministerial-level talks with the other side, the so-called loyalist paramilitaries who answer to the most militant elements among Protestants.

The round of talks, which involves 105 nations, is scheduled to conclude in ministerial-level talks in Brussels from Dec. 3 to Dec. 7.

Australia then cancelled ministerial-level talks in December and banned senior Papua New Guinea ministers from entering Australia.

Mr. Lim, the architect of South Korea's efforts at reconciliation with North Korea, was expected to advise on ministerial-level talks set for this weekend in Seoul between South and North Korean officials.

South Korea's unification minister, Hong Soon Young, in a telephone message to North Korea, said there could be "no excuse for failing to implement inter-Korean agreements" reached in ministerial-level talks held here last month.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union visited Tokyo in January 1972-one month before United States President Nixon's historic visit to China-to reopen ministerial-level talks after a six-year lapse.

While neither the United States nor North Korea has gone so far as to suggest military action, the exchange contributed to an overall sense of unease here that has been building ever since the breakdown of North-South ministerial-level talks earlier this month.

After her first ministerial-level talks with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in February 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: 'It's often said that the United States and Great Britain have long enjoyed a special relationship.