Solana to tighten relations with Iran

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Sunday travelled to Tehran in a bid to boost Europe’s ties with Iran.

Solana will also travel to Afghanistan to show EU support for its new constitution and will then hold meetings with the newly elected president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.

His Iranian visit follows Tehran’s decision last month to sign up to snap inspections of its nuclear facilities in the wake of intense international pressure to come clean on its nuclear ambitions.

“This will be an important opportunity to explore how to strengthen relations with Iran and to move ahead,” said his spokesman Cristian Gallach.

Iran’s decision to sign up to the additional protocol of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty may pave the way for developing trade and cooperation with the EU.

While hardliners in Washington in recent months pushed for tough sanctions against Iran, Europeans emphasised diplomatic engagement in winning key concessions.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany achieved a significant breakthrough in persuading Iranian leaders to allow more intrusive inspections by the UN’s nuclear watchdog the IAEA.

Solana stopped over in Vienna, the seat of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to consult its head Mohammed ElBaradei before his meetings in Iran.

The foreign policy chief also planned to urge Iran to help the fight against international terrorism and to stop aiding radical Lebanese and Palestinian groups hostile to peace with Israel.

Solana aims to give a show of support to government reformists ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections, said Gallach.

He will later visit the southern city of Bam with a message of condoleance from the EU following a devastating earthquake two weeks ago that killed more than 30,000 people. 

The EU donated €2.3 million in aid shortly after the Boxing day earthquake, and several member states sent rescue teams and financial aid to the disaster zone.

Solana will then fly to Kabul at a crucial time as the recent adoption of a new constitution by the Grand Assembly could open the door to the first free elections after 25 years of war.

He later moves to Georgia at the request of acting president Nino Burdzhandze, who took over leadership of the country after the ousting of Eduard Shevardnadze in November.

The West is keeping a close eye on the troubled former Soviet state, keen to prevent it from descending into corruption and territorial breakdown.

Solana will be stressing the fight against corruption and the speeding up of political and economic reform when he meets president-elect Mikhail Saakashvili.

 

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