ALMATY, April 6 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the talks between Iran and the Sextet had been held intensively.
After the Almaty round of talks on Saturday, Ryabkov said, “The parties concentrated on the strengthening of trust. This is serious progress. Iranians presented an approach, which takes into account the Sextet’s stance in some ways.”
“The 2nd round of the Almaty talks gave us a confusing impression. The negotiations were intensive and deep,” the deputy foreign minister said. “The parties succeeded in focusing on key issues. This is progress. They exchanged views on a possible and optimal way for further movement. The Sextet sought to promote the Almaty package: to form an atmosphere of trust, to create conditions for the work on difficult problems, which prevent the restoration of trust to the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” he said.
Iran gave certain comments on the Almaty package. Ryabkov said essentially the Almaty package “is a renovated version of the Baghdad package, which was finalised due to Russia’s reasons. “Iran presented its approach, which takes into account the Sextet proposals and reasons in some ways,” he said.
“As for the negotiating atmosphere, we moved forward. However, we failed to coordinate our positions. It is difficult to find common points,” Ryabkov said.
The Russian top-ranking diplomat said Iran and the Sextet failed to reach mutual understanding on issues, which had been discussed at the Almaty round of talks. “The parties are ready to maintain contacts and hold a new round of talks.”
“Everything is clear and the task is to take the next step,” he added.