Brussels, 12/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - Having met the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammed Khatami, in Vienna on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, will arrive in Belgrade early Wednesday afternoon for talks with the President President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, and the President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, to take stock of progress made in talks between Serbia and Montenegro on Yugoslavia's future configuration. Javier Solana will seek to obtain, on the eve of the European Summit of Barcelona, a clear commitment from Serbia and Montenegro. According to his spokesman, he trusts that the meeting with Presidents Kostunica and Djukanovic will allow a new step to be taken in the direction of a constitutional framework for the country. The Montenegrin president is subject to considerable pressure from the European Union so that he will give up his desire for independence, independence that would seem to the ethnic minorities in the Balkans as a further sign of border intangibility. The EU has always shown itself to be in favour of a flexible union between the republics. However, if Mr Kostunica and Mr Djukanovic seem to have reached a broad agreement on the form of this union, strong autonomy for Serbia and Montenegro within a unified State based on federal institutions, there are difficulties on the economic front, mainly with regard to monetary and commercial issues.
In Vienna, Javier Solana was to take part, on Tuesday, at a dinner organised by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel in honour of Mohammad Khatami. He was to meet the Iranian President on Wednesday morning. Discussions between the two men were mainly to cover the efforts aimed to strengthen relations between the Union and Teheran, that is, on the prospects of a possible cooperation agreement, and on the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East. This meeting of the High Representative with the president of a country within the "axis of evil" also translates into action the determination of Europeans to set themselves apart from US policy. It is to be noted that, on the fringe of the visit by Mr Solana, Eurochambers, the EU association of chambers of commerce and industry, signed a cooperation agreement on Tuesday with the Iranian chamber of commerce, industry and mines with a view to consolidating and developing their trade relations.