During a meeting in Vienna on Tuesday 25 April, the members of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear programme – the EU, the E3+3 Group (France, Germany, UK and China, Russia and USA) and Iran – hailed the progress achieved in implementing the nuclear agreement.
"The Joint Commission particularly welcomed the important progress made on the Arak [nuclear reactor] modernisation project", the European External Action Service (EEAS) stated in a press release.
Chinese and Iranian companies signed the first consultancy services contract on Sunday 23 April, in Vienna. This contract is for reconfiguring the heavy-water reactor at Arak, which is one of the aspects of the Plan.
The members of the JCPOA also discussed the importance of implementing the commitments on civil nuclear cooperation. In this context, they hailed the recent high-level seminar between the EU and Iran on international nuclear cooperation. On 18 April, the European Commission signed the first cooperation project between the EU and Iran on nuclear safety as part of the Plan for monitoring the Iranian nuclear programme (see Europe Diplomacy & Defence 979).
The meeting of the Joint Commission also enabled implementation of the Plan to be addressed with regard to nuclear and sanctions related commitments. Many companies still hesitate to invest in Iran through fear of US extra-territorial sanctions.
During the meeting, the participants noted their continued adherence to JCPOA commitments and stressed the need to ensure its full and effective implementation, the EEAS stated.
The meeting was chaired by EEAS Secretary General Helga Schmid, on behalf of High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, and was held at the level of political directors or deputy ministers of foreign affairs. It was the first meeting the Joint Commission of the JCPOA to be held since the election of US President Donald Trump. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)