US and Russia to renew discussions after a decade

U.S. and Russia will reopen conference to reduce their nuclear weapons, a BBC report mentioned President Barack Obama and his Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying on Wednesday here, ahead of the G-20 economic summit which begins on Thursday.

The discussions will be the first such talks for more than a decade. The announcement came on the fringes of the G20 summit of world leaders which is convening in London.

The U.S. and Russia have also agreed to discuss "mutual international co-operation", the two presidents said.

Obama said earlier there were very real differences between Washington and Moscow, but that there was also a broad set of common interests.

After their meeting, Medvedev said that he viewed prospects for future bilateral relations "with optimism". Meanwhile, Medvedev invited his American counterpart to visit Moscow in July - an invitation Obama has accepted.