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DJ Iran Pres: Ready For Power Project Deals With China -IRNA
(Comtex Energy Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LONDON, Feb 26, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) --Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country is poised to sign oil and gas deals with China after meeting China's deputy foreign minister, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said Sunday.
"Iran is ready to invest or participate in oil, gas and transportation industries with China and the country can be Iran's first trade partner in near future," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
The Iranian president met China's deputy foreign minister in Tehran Saturday. No timeframe was given in IRNA's report as to when any conclusive deals could be signed between the two countries.
Speculation has mounted in recent months that Iran, isolated by the U.S. and Europe over its nuclear program, was aiming to soon seal a multibillion-dollar oil and gas deal with China, whose voracious appetite for oil and natural gas is potentially undermining U.S. efforts to isolate Iran.
The U.S. has been concerned China and Russia wouldn't support slapping any U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program because of their economic ties with the Islamic republic.
The U.N. Security Council, of which China and Russia are members, is scheduled to discuss Iran's nuclear program - and possible sanctions - after the International Atomic Energy Agency meets in Vienna March 6.
China's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying that China put a lot of priority into establishing trade relations with Iran. "China attaches much importance to its relations with Iran and is for expansion of trade ties between the two countries," IRNA quoted him as saying.
Iran and China signed a memorandum of understanding in 2004 in which it was agreed that Iran would allow China's Sinopec Group to develop Iran's Yadavaran oil field in exchange for agreeing to buy 10 million metric tons of Iranian liquefied natural gas a year for 25 years.
The Iran-China meeting Saturday came as Russia's top nuclear official, Sergei Kiriyenko, Sunday was inspecting an atomic power plant Russia has been building in the Persian Gulf city of Bushehr.
Kiriyenko was expected to further discuss with Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, a Russian proposal for a moratorium on uranium enrichment by Iran and a shift of Iran's enrichment program to Russia.
Such an agreement would likely ease global concerns that the Islamic republic could divert the enriched nuclear material to make a nuclear bomb.
Kiriyenko expressed confidence Saturday the International Atomic Energy Agency could still resolve the West's standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.
-By Spencer Swartz, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9357; spencer.swartz@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-26-06 0728ET
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