President Saleh stresses Iran’s right of owning nuclear energy

BRUSSELS, Jan. 31 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed on Thursday Iran’s right of having nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, calling at the same time for a free-nuclear-weapon zone at the Middle East region. During his meeting here with the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy in the European Union Javier Solana, Saleh asserted importance of the European Union’s role in pushing forward the just and comprehensive peace process in the region and also in exerting pressure on Israel to stop its aggressions and blockade on Palestinian People in Gaza strip. Solana confirmed the EU’s stance on supporting the peace process in the region and its call for establishing both Palestinian and Israeli states, in which the two peoples co-exist in peace. He asserted the EU’s keenness on supporting development and democracy in the country, indicating to the EU’s decision to open a permanent bureau of the EU in Sana’a to activate mutual relations and promoting cooperation between the two sides. The meeting also dealt with the cooperation relations between Yemen and the EU in fields of combating terrorism and African refugees in Yemen. MS/AF Saba