UN Secretary-General to assist talks between Iran and G5+1

[News_Editor]

UN Secretary-General to assist talks between Iran and G5+1

2010-10-23 06:46:31 GMT+7 (ICT)

TEHRAN, IRAN (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said that he will make his best efforts to facilitate talks between Iran and the G5+1 group for the upcoming November meetings.

"As Secretary General, I will spare no efforts to facilitate such negotiation process. There is no other way but dialog, through which we can resolve this issue in a peaceful manner," the Secretary-General said.

Last week, European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, proposed three-day meeting over Iran's nuclear program in November in Vienna, the Austrian capital. She said that she hoped that Iran will accept the offer.

According to the semi-official Fars news agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accepted the offer and said that Tehran is negotiating with the G5+1 to determine the exact date and venue for the talks.

"I am encouraged that the talks have been moving towards a favorable direction. Whenever and wherever I have been meeting Iranian authorities, I have been urging them to return to dialog and engage negotiations with G5+1," Mottaki declared.

The G5+1 group is the five permanent UN Security Council members (Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S.) plus Germany.

Previously, Iran underlined that its package of proposals would be the basis for any future talks between Tehran and the G5+1. The package was submitted in September 2009, and proposed cooperation for a wide variety of global problems, including nuclear and security issues.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-10-23