AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

Russia, more cautious about punishing Iran for its nuclear ambitions than other European countries, is planning high-level contacts with Tehran this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
"As for our contacts with the Iranian leadership, these contacts were planned for this week," Lavrov told a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. "The format is currently being worked out," he said.
Lavrov's remarks followed an announcement that a visit to Moscow by Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki planned for Thursday had been postponed indefinitely. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement did not say why it had been postponed.
But Iran's student news agency ISNA reported later that Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was expected to visit Russia on Friday to meet President Vladimir Putin. The report about Larijani's visit could not be officially confirmed.
The United States suspects Iran is using its nuclear power programme as a cover for bomb-making. Tehran says it wants the nuclear technology only to generate electricity. Russia, which has a veto on the UN Security Council, has been reluctant to go along with Western plans to use sanctions against Iran.
Moscow has proposed major deletions to a European draft UN resolution aimed at stemming Iran's nuclear ambitions, according to a text of Moscow's proposed amendments obtained by Reuters.
The draft UN resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany demands that nations prevent the sale and supply of equipment, technology and financing contributing to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Russia instead wants this provision to focus only on "enrichment-related and reprocessing activities," heavy-water reactors and the development of "nuclear weapon delivery systems."
Moscow's objections to the sanctions plan, which included eliminating an assets freeze and a travel ban, are bound to drag out talks through November. Russia says such sanctions should be determined by national governments rather than be mandatory for all nations.
Lavrov said Russia was committed to earlier understandings on Iran reached with the other four permanent UN Security Council members - the United States, France, Britain, China - plus Germany and the European Union. "These consist of continuing to forge a consensus in collective fashion on measures which will bring talks closer on the Iranian nuclear programme," he said.
"Within this framework, we have proposed amendments to the draft resolution presented by the three European countries which go much further than the agreements of which I have already spoken."

Copyright Reuters, 2006

Comments

Comments are closed.