Prime Minister John Key says a Russian proposal to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control and have them destroyed is an interesting suggestion.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov put the proposal to his Syrian counterpart Walid al Muallem during talks in Moscow, in an attempt to avert American-led military strikes.
Mr Key says if the plan is genuine, then it could be a positive step in protecting people in Syria. "We would want to ensure that that was complete and that actually occurred."
He says it will be interesting to see how other world leaders react "but any country that rids itself of chemical weapons is a positive step for all of us".
