LONDON - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed that there had been "very good progress" to find solutions on the Northern Ireland protocol issue, Sunak's office said on Saturday.

"They ...had a positive discussion about the talks on the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol. They agreed that there had been very good progress to find solutions," his office said in a statement after their meeting at the annual Munich Security Conference.

"Intensive work in the coming days is still needed at official and ministerial levels," the statement added.

(Reporting by Muvija M; editing by Jason Neely)