Iranian, French N. Negotiators Meet in Geneva
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Diplomats representing Iran and France kicked off a bilateral meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program.
The meeting opened on Wednesday at the residence of Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva.
The Iranian nuclear negotiators are led by Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi.
On the other side, Nicolas de Riviere heads the French diplomatic team. Riviere, who serves as director of the United Nations at the French Foreign Ministry (also known as Quai d'Orsay), succeeds France’s longtime lead negotiator, Jacques Audibert.
Iran has started to hold bilateral talks with members of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) ahead of a new round of high-profile negotiations in Vienna.
On June 9-10, representatives from Iran, the US and the European Union held trilateral talks in the Swiss city to further discuss Iran’s nuclear energy program.
According to Araqchi, the tripartite talks included “good exchange of views, however, divisions still remain and consultations will continue.”
Moreover, the Iranian negotiating team is set to hold a couple of other bilateral meetings with diplomats from Russia and Germany in the coming days.
Iranian negotiators will meet a Russian diplomatic delegation in the Italian capital of Rome at the weekend.
Araqchi had announced earlier that another bilateral meeting between Iranians and Germany’s representative, Hans-Dieter Lucas, will take place in Tehran on Sunday, June 15.
The separate bilateral talks between Iran and members of the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) are aimed at narrowing differences ahead of a high-level meeting among the political directors of the seven nations, slated for June 16-20 in Vienna.
The upcoming negotiations in Austria are aimed at drafting a comprehensive deal to resolve the decade-long standoff over Tehran's peaceful nuclear energy program.
