LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Britain’s unilateral moves to extend a grace period for trade with Northern Ireland were “temporary technical steps” needed for operational reasons, minister for EU ties David Frost told European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on Wednesday. The measures announced Wednesday were “temporary technical steps, which largely continued measures already in place, to provide more time for businesses such as supermarkets and parcel operators to adapt to and implement the new requirements in the Protocol,” Frost said, according to a British government spokeswoman. “He underlined that these were needed for operational reasons and were the minimum necessary steps to allow time for constructive discussions in the Joint Committee to continue,” the spokeswoman added. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Leslie Adler)