Tehran, Prague to Up Nuclear Cooperation: AEOI Chief
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran and Prague have agreed to embark on some joint projects and steadily boost their nuclear cooperation.
"We have decided to start on few projects and then build up as we move and proceed in time and try to expand this cooperation in the nuclear technology further and further,” Salehi said on Monday in a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka during his visit to Prague, AP reported.
He mentioned nuclear safety as an example of a future cooperation with the Czechs and added Iran wants to work to enhance "our (nuclear) regulatory body using Czech experience."
Salehi, on the first day of his two-day visit to Prague, also met with Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek and discussed development of bilateral nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
At the meeting, Salehi said "a new opportunity is in front of us" with a lasting nuclear deal struck between Tehran and world powers.
Zaoralek, for his part, said a nuclear energy cooperation with Iran in particular "represents a huge opportunity."
According to a statement by the Czech Foreign Ministry, Salehi is also scheduled to meet with the country’s Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Mládek and the head of its atomic agency during his visit.
He will also hold talks with Head of the State Office for Nuclear Safety Dana Drábová.
"His visit will take place within the framework of the conclusion of nuclear agreement with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), subsequent easing of international sanctions and shared interest in boosting the Czech-Iranian relations,” a statement by the ministry said.
Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached the deal on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16.
