EU, Iran hold political dialogue
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Brussels, May 17, IRNA
EU-Iran
Officials from the European Union and the Islamic Republic began a new round of political dialogue in Brussels Tuesday afternoon.
Ebrahim Rahimpour, Director General for Western Europe at the Iranian foreign ministry, is leading his country's delegation to the sixth round of political negotiations.
Luxembourg ambassador, Paul Mertz, is heading the EU side which includes officials from the EU Council, Commission and Member States, to the one-day meeting.
Luxembourg currently holds the EU Presidency.
The seventh round of EU-Iran negotiations on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) began here Tuesday morning.
The Iranian side to the TCA is led by Kia Tabatabai, Director General for Economy at the Iranian foreign ministry and the EU side by Christian Leffler, Director of the European Commission's Middle East and South Mediterranean department, at the two-day meeting.
TCA negotiations linked to a political dialogue were launched in Brussels in December 2002 to put the EU-Iran cooperation in a contractual framework.
The negotiations were put on hold in June 2003 due to EU concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
They were resumed last December following an agreement with Iran and the EU troika of Germany, France, and Britain over Tehran's voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment activities.
The political dialogue revolves around human rights, regional security in the Middle East, fight against terrorism, and
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
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::IRNA No.058 17/05/2005 18:15 --End
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