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Nuclear cooperation, arms control and non-proliferation, Afghanistan, and tackling the financial crisis are expected to be the main topics at the upcoming U.S.-Russian summit in April, U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns said in an interview with Interfax on Thursday.

It was reported earlier that the first meeting between the Russian and U.S. Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, will take place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London in April.

"I think nuclear cooperation and arms control, especially the importance of reaching a post-START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement that suits both of our interests, will be a very important item," Burns said.

The U.S.-Russian cooperation on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will be another very important point of the summit agenda, he said.

"We share our common interest in ensuring that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapons capability," said the high-ranking U.S. diplomat, who held consultations with Russian officials in Moscow.

"Afghanistan is another area of common interests. Both the United States and Russia have an interest in ensuring that Afghanistan does not become a platform for the export of violent extremism from which both of us have suffered," he said.

"Global economic issues will obviously be an important subject for our two presidents. Both of our economies are seriously affected by the global financial crisis. And both our countries have an important role to play in addressing that challenge," he said.

"I think it will be important for our two leaderships to look at ways in which we can structure our relationship in ensuring that we work together more systematically," Burns said.

"But we have not yet made any specific proposals," he said.

Burns is the first high-ranking U.S. administration official to have visited Moscow after the inauguration of new president B. Obama. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-4918283-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview();