Kazakhstan
recommends Iran borrow its nuke experience - minister
Jun 8, 2006 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS
Tehran, 7 June: Kazakhstan recommends that Iran borrow its nuclear
experience and insists Iran should openly cooperate with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Kazakh Foreign Minister
Kasymzhomart Tokayev said in an exclusive interview with ITAR-TASS on
Wednesday [7 June] after his visit to Tehran.
"We believe that Iran's nuclear problem affects the interests not
only of the Central Asian countries, but also that of the world
community. Kazakhstan as a country that voluntarily gave up nuclear arms
in exchange for international security guarantees provided by the
permanent members of the UN Security Council has the right to show
sincere interest [in resolving] Iran's nuclear problem," he said.
"At the talks with Iranian officials, we recommended they take into
consideration Kazakhstan's experience," the Kazakh foreign minister
said.
"We say this not only to the Iranians, but also to the other
interested parties," Tokayev added.
He recalled that during his recent visit to Kazakhstan US Vice
President Richard Cheney described the example of Kazakhstan as unique
and pointed out that Iran should take it into consideration.
Answering the question as to how Kazakhstan assessed Iran's nuclear
activities, Tokayev said that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad
assured him that "Iran's defence doctrine envisages no nuclear weapons
production".
"Ahmadinezhad said to me that all concerns over Iran's nuclear
problem are groundless," he said.
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