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FinancialAdvisor

01/10/06 4:57 AM

#14017 RE: FinancialAdvisor #14016

Russia awaiting Iran's answer on offer to jointly enrich uranium

Russia awaiting Iran's answer on offer to jointly enrich uranium
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-10 16:45


A top diplomat said Tuesday that a Russian delegation had confirmed to Iranian officials that Moscow's offer to jointly enrich Iranian uranium on Russian territory still stands and that the Russian side is waiting for an answer, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Should our Iranian colleagues be interested, we are ready to develop the joint project in order to solve Iran's energy problems," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak was quoted as saying.

He said that the talks between a delegation led by Security Council deputy secretary Valentin Sobolev and officials in Tehran had been "serious, professional, detailed and honest."

The Russian enrichment proposal, backed by the European Union and the United States, was designed to ease concerns that Iran would use the fuel to build a bomb.

Enrichment is a process that can produce nuclear fuel for reactors or atomic weapons, depending on the degree of enrichment.


LINK: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/10/content_511028.htm