Iran-Kazakh FMs Hope For Continued Almaty G5+1 Talks

Tehran, April 13, IRNA – Ministers of foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and Islamic Republic of Iran in a phone talk Friday expressed hope that Iran-G 5+1 talks for solving Tehran-West nuclear dispute politically would continue. According to IRNA, the media office of Iran's diplomacy apparatus reported that the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Yerlan Idrissov and the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi in their phone talk on Friday evening reviewed the latest status of Tehran-Astana bilateral ties and the discussions on latest developments in the country's peaceful nuclear program. Both sides, in the phone talk, consulted on the different rounds of the recently held Almaty 2 talks, expressing hope that Iran-G 5+1 negotiations would be resumed at the earliest. Idrissov also invited his Iranian counterpart to participate at the 3rd Meeting of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan, which is scheduled to be held in Almaty on April 26th. Iran released a statement following the conclusion of the second round of Almaty 2 talks in Kazakhstan to shed light on the comprehensive negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group. The full text of the statements follows. In the name of God The Final Almaty statement by the Islamic Republic of Iran I start by thanking the brotherly government and people of Kazakhstan for hosting the second round of Almaty talks between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the six countries. Ten months ago in Moscow, the Islamic Republic of Iran tabled a comprehensive plan to help advance the talks. The plan of action incorporates the revised proposal tabled by 5+1 in Almaty 1 round of talks as well as the recommendations of the technical meeting which was organized between Almaty 1 and 2. Some of our specific initiatives in response to the points of view tabled by 5+1 were presented in the Almaty 1 meeting which has the capacity to help bring about a forward movement. In the past two days substantive, extensive and comprehensive discussions, addressing the various dimensions off the plan of action tabled by Iran took place and representatives of the six countries sought numerous clarifications and posed many questions about Iranˈs proposed plan. In response, Iran provided extensive answers. Of course there is some distance between the positions of the two sides. The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced on numerous occasions - stressing the rights of the Iranian people including the right to enrich and an end to behaviors which are a sign of enmity towards the people of Iran - based on these two points, the proposal was tabled to help us to proceed in a constructive fashion. Representatives of the 5+1 Group of countries tabled the points of view of their respective countries and announced that they will need to have a better evaluation of the new conditions which have arisen from Iranˈs initiative. With this in mind, it was decided that they will transmit the outcome of the talks to their respective capitals. It was also decided that Lady Ashton, after consulting the foreign ministers of the six countries, will call me to discuss how the process of talks will proceed. We think in this round of talks, some good negotiations were conducted and now in consideration to our new proposals, it is now up to the G5+1 to demonstrate its willingness and sincerity to take proportionate confidence building steps./end