Iran's nuclear programme and efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation, particularly economic ties, dominated talks held by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki with Slovenian officials during his visit here on Wednesday.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told a press conference after the talks in Ljubljana that bilateral and international topics were discussed. In Mottaki's words, the talks were "friendly and frank".
Iran's nuclear programme was on the top of Mottaki's meetings with Rupel, Prime Minister Janez Jansa and President Janez Drnovsek. The Iranian official reiterated Iran's insistence that its nuclear programme was "peaceful".
Mottaki said Iran still hoped a diplomatic solution to the issue could be achieved in spite of efforts by the West to pass a new UN Security Council resolution stepping up sanctions against his country.
In his opinion, a compromise should be sought so that a diplomatic solution may be achieved. If Iran and the West agreed on concessions resulting in a suspension in the West's push against Iran in the UN Security Council and Iran's honouring of the Additional Protocols to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty a diplomatic solution would be only weeks away, he added.
Rupel said that Slovenia supported the right of all countries, including Iran, to nuclear technology for peaceful means. But he added that Slovenia adhered to the EU's position as regards complications over Iran's nuclear programme.
A statement from Drnovsek's office meanwhile said that talks with Mottaki focused on "efforts by the international community and Iran to reach a peaceful solution on Iran's nuclear programme for the benefit of peace and stability in the energy-rich region".
Drnovsek stressed in the talks with Mottaki that Iran "is an extremely important regional player that can play a constructive role in resolving other problems in this part of the world, including in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East".
Touching on bilateral issues, Rupel and Mottaki said there was an interest on both sides to bolster economic ties. Mottaki said that there was still a lot of potential to upgrade what Rupel described as "poorly developed" economic cooperation.
According to the Slovenian minister, in the future Slovenia's region and Iran will be brought closer by a number of gas and oil pipelines. He said he hoped some of them would pass through Slovenia.
Mottaki pointed to the importance of energy cooperation. He said Iran was committed to providing secure energy, as manifested by the current pipeline projects that would deliver Iranian gas to Europe.
He said he had informed Slovenian officials of Iran's "readiness to take part in Slovenia's development plan through sharing of its energy needs".
Meanwhile, Rupel added that the talks examined "a possibility that our respective ministries nominate representatives responsible for promoting economic cooperation".
Moreover, Rupel and Mottaki said regional issues were discussed, including security in the Middle East and developments in Europe regarding US plans for a missile shield.
According to Mottaki, the most recent Iraqi security conference in Baghdad was "comprehensively constructive". In his opinion, the meeting sent a clear message to the terrorist groups that "all parties are united" in favour of Iraq's security.
He stressed that decisions coming from outside were of no benefit to Iraq. There was a very clear message coming from the meeting that a comprehensive solution to the situation Iraq lay in diplomacy rather than in the deployment of additional soldiers, he added.
The Iranian foreign minister also expressed concern about the security situation in Afghanistan, saying Europe needed to "pay more attention" to tackling drugs production in this Central Asian country.
According to a press release from the Slovenian prime minister's office, Jansa and Mottaki agreed that members of the international community needed to work in unison in order to promote stability in the Middle East.
Mottaki came to Slovenia to establish contacts at a time Slovenia chairs the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and gets ready to hold the EU presidency in the first half of 2008.
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