Moscow: Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations gathered in Moscow on Thursday for their last meeting before next month's conference in St Petersburg.
The Iranian nuclear crisis is thought to be top of the agenda.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov told Russian news agency, RIA-Novosti that the aim of the meeting was to "advance the solution to this or that problem and lighten the load" of the G8 summit in July.
The ministers were eager to discuss the political situation of the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Korean Peninsula, he said.
The fight against terrorism and nonproliferation efforts are also likely topics on the agenda.
