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UPDATE 4-Britain, EU stress commitment to solve N.Ireland border row

* UK, EU officials release joint statement

* Officials call London talks "constructive"

* EU had rejected calls for more time

* Irish PM calls for calm(Recasts with end of meeting in London)

By Conor Humphries and Jan Strupczewski

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union onThursday reiterated their commitment to resolve post-Brexittrade frictions over the Northern Ireland border in the wake ofa row over COVID-19 vaccines.

Senior British minister Michael Gove and European CommissionVice President Maros Sefcovic released a joint statement afterthey met on Thursday, saying they had "a frank but constructivediscussion".

They added they would "spare no effort" to implementsolutions agreed in December under the so-called NorthernIreland Protocol, but did not provide details.

Britain's exit from the EU's trading orbit in January hasled to significant disruption to trade between Northern Irelandand the rest of the United Kingdom, straining relations asLondon and Brussels hold each other responsible for the problem.

The dispute revolves around the EU's insistence on Britainhonouring its withdrawal treaty which left the British provinceof Northern Ireland within the EU's single market sphere due toits open land border with Ireland, meaning a customs border inthe Irish Sea dividing the province from mainland Britain.

Gove, who last month threatened that London would consider"all instruments at its disposal" if it did not secure thenecessary concessions on Northern Ireland, met Sefcovic inLondon late on Thursday.

On the eve of the talks, Sefcovic had ruled out most of theconcessions that Britain had asked for, saying in a letter toGove that "blanket derogations ... cannot be agreed beyond whatthe Protocol foresees already."

Sefcovic, who had said on his way to the talks that theimplementation of the protocol is a "two-way street", said thetalks were constructive. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveneysaid on Twitter it was "good day's work".

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose country - an EUmember state - has been central to the talks, had summoned bothsides to "dial down the rhetoric."

"We just need to calm it, because ultimately we want theUnited Kingdom aligning well with the European Union. We wantharmonious, sensible relationships," he told RTE radio.

Britain has stepped up efforts to extract concessions fromthe EU over Northern Ireland's trade arrangements since theEuropean Commission sought briefly last month to stop COVID-19vaccines being delivered from Ireland into Northern Ireland.

The Commission cited a shortfall of vaccines promised forthe EU, but after an uproar broke out, it reversed its move toinvoke Article 16 of the Brexit divorce deal's Northern Irelandprotocol.

FRAUGHT ISSUE OF BORDERS

The protocol seeks to preserve the open Irish border - acrucial component of a 1998 peace deal that largely endedsectarian conflict in Northern Ireland - while at the same timepreserving the integrity of the EU's single market.

In the letter ahead of Thursday's talks, Sefcovic rejectedcalls for more time, until Jan. 1, 2023, for Britishsupermarkets and their suppliers to adjust to the new customsborder in the Irish Sea for goods shipped to the province,including chilled meat, parcels and medicines, from the rest ofthe United Kingdom.

Sefcovic said the EU was examining more flexibility on steelbut that on the issues of pet travel between mainland Britainand Northern Ireland, and of movements of seed potatoes andother plants, any flexibility would entail the United Kingdomcommitting to align with EU single market rules.

Britain left the EU single market on sovereignty grounds.Some EU diplomats say Prime Minister Boris Johnson's governmenthas not fully acknowledged the inherent trade-offs betweenregulatory autonomy and market access.

An EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, saidthere was growing concern in Brussels that the Irish governmentwas trying to play both sides. "It is a bit surprising what iscoming out of Dublin in recent weeks. There is no aggressiverhetoric out of the EU," the diplomat said.

"It would be rather risky if the Irish government were to beseen as playing with European goodwill and solidarity."

(Additional reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin, WilliamJames in London and Sabine Siebold in Berlin, writing by ConorHumphries; Editing by Frances Kerry and Jane Wardell)