Asia

Asia

Ashton visits Turkey ahead of P5+1 talks

14 January 2011 04:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has visited Turkey ahead of multifaceted talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in Istanbul, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Ashton, who will represent the P5+1(China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, plus Germany) in the forthcoming comprehensive negotiations with Iran in late January met with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday to prepare the grounds for what she hoped would be a constructive round of negotiations, a Press TV correspondent reported.

During their meeting, the two officials also discussed relations between Turkey and the European Union as well as regional and international issues.

Earlier on Thursday, the Turkish foreign minister, whose country will host comprehensive talks with Iran, met with Ali Baqeri, Iran’s deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Counci, to discuss preparations for the negotiations.

Although Turkey will not be directly involved in this round of negotiations, Davutoglu expressed hope that the Istanbul talks would be constructive and that progress would be made.

Iran and the P5+1 representatives held their previous round of multifaceted talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on December 6-7, during which both sides agreed to hold the next round of negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul on January 21 and 22.

The comprehensive talks were held between Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili and Ashton.