Strasbourg, 08/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - A delegation of seven MEPs, including the chair of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, Elmar Brok, visited Iran on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June in order to “build up further trust” in EU-Iran relations.
“With this visit, the European Parliament wants to give a strong signal of its commitment to building trust in this key moment in EU-Iran relations”, Brok stated in a European Parliament press release.
The MEPs and members of the Iranian authorities whom they met - including Vice-President Masoumeh Ebtekar, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and President of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani - “saw this official visit as a first step in a new era of cooperation and renewed parliamentary dialogue between Iran and the EU at a crucial moment of the nuclear negotiations”.
In a press release they say that the “disagreements should not prevent both sides from reaching a mutually acceptable solution to the nuclear issue within the agreed deadline”. In the view of the European Parliament delegation and of Ali Larijani, such an agreement “will create the conditions for building up further trust and developing cooperation in other areas of mutual interest”. The negotiations continue to reach a final text of the nuclear programme - with the deadline for reaching this agreement being 30 June.
The members of the European Parliament delegation and the Iranian authorities expressed their concern at the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and its security and humanitarian consequences in the region. This was identified as “yet another proof of the need to enhance cooperation between Iran and the EU in the region, together with a shared commitment to fight terrorism from all sides”, the European Parliament press release states. The Iranian and European Parliaments agreed to follow up on this through a joint seminar. The subject of human rights was also addressed, according to the press release.
Mohammad Javad Zarif has accepted to visit the European Parliament in the near future. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)