Iran Welcomes Declaration of G-8 Foreign Ministerial MeetingIranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Saturday expressed welcome to the stance adopted by the recent Group of Eight (G-8) foreign ministerial meeting on the country.Asefi said the moderate wording of the G-8 declaration indicates a realistic attitude adopted by the group regarding Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The developments in Iran arise from the national will of the Iranian people, he said, and the international community should consider the rights of the nations to determine their own fate and the principle of the non-intervention in other states' internal affairs. Asefi also called on the international community to get involved in a constructive cooperation with the countries which try to promote their positive roles on national and international levels. Thanking the G-8 foreign ministers for their consideration of Iran's efforts to stop drug trafficking via its territory, he also called on the international community to more actively cooperate with Iran to suppress the illicit traffic in drugs. It is impossible to definitively curb the drug problem without adopting a global strategy to counter it, he said. The Iranian spokesman also brushed aside the West's concern on Iran's stance over the Middle East peace process, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, the main hurdles for Iran to improve relations with the Western countries, particularly the United States. Iran believes that the only best solution to the Middle East crisis is to give the Palestinians all their legitimate rights, he said. Iran has strongly opposed the Middle East peace process and rejected to recognize the Israeli regime, which was labeled by Iran as "usurper of Islamic and Arab lands." Terming Iran as a victim of international terrorism, Asefi stressed that Tehran calls for serious dealing with "all forms of the evil phenomenon of terrorism." Rejecting the allegation on Iran's efforts to get access to weapons of mass destruction, he said Iran has acceded to the international treaties on the non-proliferation of the mass destruction weaponry and it has always tried to help create a world free from the arms of mass destruction. Iran's atomic installations have been times and again checked by the nuclear international agencies which approved of the peaceful purposes of its nuclear plans, he added. G-8 foreign ministers held a two-day meeting in the southwestern Japanese city of Miyazaki on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for the G-8 summit in Okinawa later this month. The statement of the meeting focuses on disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation, United Nations reforms, fight against international organized crime and terrorism, the environment and regional security issues. The G-8 countries are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia. |
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