Brussels, 24/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 23 September, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton announced that she will hold a meeting with Iran's Minister for Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif, with their respective teams, in Geneva in October, in order to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue. Ashton is due to be accompanied by the political leaders of the E3+3 (Germany, France, United Kingdom and China, United States, Russia) - in other words, the same format as at the last negotiations in Almaty (Kazakhstan) on 5-6 April. Ashton hopes to begin the “huge amount of work to do” during this meeting. “We are hoping for a real resumption” of the negotiations, which the Iranians “will engage in seriously”, a European source told EUROPE. The date of the meeting is still to be confirmed, but Zarif has spoken of mid-October.
Before this, Zarif will join the meeting of the E3+3 ministers chaired by Ashton at 4.00pm on 26 September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York (see EUROPE 10927) “so as to have a brief discussion”, and this will be the opportunity to exchange points of view, Ashton added. Iran's foreign affairs spokesperson, Marzieh Afkham, stated that the meeting is a new start in the nuclear negotiations and a step forward.
Zarif determined to progress in the discussions, according to Ashton. Although meeting for the first time, Ashton said she is struck by Zarif's energy and determination to try and move forward in their talks on the Iranian nuclear issue. She said that they had “a good and constructive” discussion and she stressed that this initial meeting was intended to establish the way in which they will work together. “We didn't talk about the details of what we will do. The purpose of this meeting was to establish how we would go forward”, she said.
Zarif said on Twitter on 24 September that there is a “historic opportunity to settle the nuclear issue, but the countries from the E5+1 group must adapt their attitude in order to correspond better with the new Iranian approach”. (CG/transl.fl)