Brussels, 16/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 16 October, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton announced another meeting, in Geneva on 7-8 November, on the Iranian nuclear programme, reading for the first time a joint statement from the E3+3 (Germany, France, United Kingdom and China, United States, Russia) and Iran.
Ashton said that before this next meeting, nuclear scientists and Western and Iranian sanctions experts will meet “to address differences and develop practical steps”. Earlier, Iran's Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif had announced that another meeting would be held and said that “in the intervening time, the members of the 5+1 Group will have the opportunity to study the details of the Iranian proposals and to prepare the measures that they intend to take”.
Stating that the negotiations were “substantive”, Ashton also said that the discussions were the most detailed that they had ever had with the Iranians. She said that Iran's proposal was “being carefully considered” by the E3+3 as an “important contribution”. (CG/transl.fl)