BARVIKHA (Moscow Region), October 13 (RIA Novosti) - President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to his official country residence on Tuesday, hailing improving ties between Moscow and Washington.

"Our cooperation with the new U.S. administration is at a high level," he said.

"Recent events and the summit that was held in Pittsburgh, and the UN General Assembly, have shown our joint mood to find answers to the most pressing issues, the most difficult questions, and we will discuss them openly and with interest - a Middle East settlement, Iran, North Korea, and other issues that are now highly relevant to international relations," Medvedev said.

Clinton praised the setting up of a presidential commission, agreed by Medvedev and President Barack Obama when they met in Moscow in July, saying that the 16 working groups, on issues such as Iran, North Korea and nuclear nonproliferation, would deepen bilateral ties between the two countries.

The secretary of state also said she had a constructive meeting earlier in the day with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The two top diplomats agreed that the time had not come to impose sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, and that such a step was not inevitable.

Clinton completes her trip to Russia on Wednesday with a visit to Kazan, the capital of the Muslim republic of Tatarstan.