WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Obama administration seeks deeper and greater cooperation with Russia on issues of mutual national interest, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said here on Friday.

"This administration will be candid with the Russians when we disagree, but seeks a deeper and greater cooperation on issues of mutual national interest," the spokesman told reporters at the daily press briefing.

Gibbs' remarks came after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov called on the Obama administration to deliver a "constructiveresponse" to open negotiations on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), as the existing START I treaty will expire in December 2009.

"We expect a constructiveresponse of the new U.S. administration in this matter and generally to our proposals. This will allow to arrive in the foreseeable future at an arrangement which will mark a new substantial step forward along the road to missile and nuclear disarmament," said Ivanov, who is in Germany for the annual Munich security conference.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden left on Friday for Munich, where he will meet Ivanov and leaders from Germany, Britain, France and Georgia.

Analysts here say that the Obama administration expects to ease up tensions with Moscow, which in recent years was ignited over the U.S. missile defense system plan in Poland and the Czech Republic and the enlargement of the NATO.
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