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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 23, 2001

British Foreign Secretary in Iran for Talks Over Afghan Issue

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said here Thursday that Iran plays a key role in the regionaldevelopment, especially in helping resolve the Afghan crisis, RadioPayam (message) reported.


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British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said here Thursday that Iran plays a key role in the regionaldevelopment, especially in helping resolve the Afghan crisis, RadioPayam (message) reported.

During a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi, Straw termed as necessary the continued consultation between Iran and Britain on major regional and international issues.

Straw stressed the importance of establishing a broad-based Afghan government with the participation of all Afghan parties and groups, adding that the international community is expected to givea hand to reconstruct the war-torn country and deliver aid to it.

Referring to next week's peace conference on the future of Afghanistan in Germany, Straw expressed hope that the meeting will be a fundamental move towards establishing a broad-based governmentin Afghanistan.

Echoing Straw's concern, Kharazi said that countries worldwide are required to help reconstruct the conflict-shattered state and donate emergency rations to the Afghan people.

Kharazi reiterated that the Afghan people are the ones to decidetheir nation's future, noting that the post-Taliban Afghan government should be run according to the will of the Afghan people.

The two ministers also touched upon the latest development in the Middle East, said the radio.

Straw arrived in Tehran earlier in the day for talks with Iranian officials and visiting Afghan Northern Alliance's Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

The current trip is Straw's second visit to Iran in less than two months. On September 25, Straw paid a one-day visit to Iran, the first ever by a British foreign secretary since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Straw is also to travel on to Pakistan to confer with Pakistani officials on the future Afghan government.




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