EU's Solana to visit Iran for nuclear talks: France

Tue Jul 8, 2008 7:29am EDT
 
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TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will travel to Iran to hold talks over its nuclear program, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan.

Sarkozy said the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany had decided to dispatch Solana to Iran to discuss a revised incentives package presented last month by the six nations to try and curb Iran's nuclear activities.

"(We have decided) to send Mr Solana to hold talks and examine in detail what are the differences between the Iranians' current proposal and the one we have put on the table," Sarkozy told a news conference.

He did not say when Solana might make the trip.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday his country would not stop enriching uranium, work which Tehran says is aimed at generating power but which the West fears may be part of a covert nuclear weapons program.

Solana had said earlier on Monday he hoped to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili this month after Tehran handed over a response to the revised incentives package.

Jalili stressed "common ground" in a conversation with Solana in which he also requested a meeting.

(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry, writing by Estelle Shirbon)

 

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