IRAN SAYS LAUNCHED "INITIATIVE" TO RESOLVE CAUCASUS CRISIS

Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1
Sept 16 2008

[Presenter] Foreign ministers of Iran and Armenia met in Tehran today
and called for a solution to the Caucasus crisis.

Manuchehr Mottaki met the German foreign minister in Berlin last night
and announced that Tehran and Berlin were forming a working group to
review the Georgian crisis. Mottaki said this morning:

[Mottaki] The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a state that neighbours
two countries of the important and sensitive region of Caucasus, has
reviewed and monitored the developments [in Caucasus] over the past
month and discussed an initiative with the countries of the region.

That initiative was the start of regional discussions which were aimed
at finding a mechanism to define regional cooperation. Therefore,
upon the president’s decree, I travelled to Moscow, Azerbaijan and
Germany. As part of our bilateral relations with Armenia, we had
the brilliant opportunity of Mr Na’lbandian’s visit to Iran, which
completed another link of discussions [on Caucasus].