Iran could attend Central Asia security meeting

Beijing, May 18: Iran could attend a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as an observer when heads of state from the regional security forum meet next month, China's Foreign Ministry said today.

Heads of state from the SCO, which groups regional powers Russia and China with the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, are to meet on June 15 in Shanghai.

Observer states Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran would also be invited to attend, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

''Iran is an observer country of the SCO and will be invited,'' he told a regular news briefing.

The agenda for the meeting was yet to be finalised, Liu said.

Foreign ministers from the group urged negotiations to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programmes when they met earlier this week.

China and Russia have long opposed the threat of sanctions to force Iran to curb its atomic research. Iran says such research is to produce electricity but Western powers fear its real purpose is to make weapons and have urged stronger action at the UN Security Council, where China and Russia both have veto power.

Reuters

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