Posted on 03/14/2004 10:21:35 PM PST by piasa
Tehran, Feb 28 (IranMania) -- According to Iran's State News Agency (IRNA) first meeting of Iran-Niger Economic Commission will open in Niger`s capital of Niamey and will continue up to March 3.
A report released by the public relations department of the Ministry of Cooperatives said that the meeting will focus on expansion of trade cooperation, holding trade fairs, exchange of trainees to undergo professional industrial and technical training, education of manpower and joint agricultural projects.
It added that development of Niger's health and treatment network as well as the activity of Niger's Red Crescent Society and other projects and proposals for cooperation between the ministries and organizations of the two states will also be discussed in the meeting. Niger's call on Iran for supply of transportation for its Armed and Security Forces as well as participation of Iranians in the construction of Kandadji Dam and investment in various projects such as processing agro products will also be on agenda.
I googled up North Korea and Niger and it gave me this snippet of an article:
UN atom watchdog rejects Iran's call to close case Reuters, India - Mar 8, 2004
... a top Pakistani atomic scientist sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya ... Fleming said Libya, along with Niger, would sign an Additional Protocol to ...
But when I clicked on the link, it took me to this article:
08 Mar 2004 18:59
U.S., Iran clash as U.N. opens key nuclear review
By Louis Charbonneau and Mark Trevelyan
This article didn't have the quoted snippet that google had first shown me about Niger.
I found that rather strange, since its authors & date, though not time, are the same as the one I should have been taken to by the link in the first place which referred to Niger and which I found by searching for the title :
So here it is from yahoo india:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/040308/137/2bvpi.html
Monday March 8, 6:33 PM U.N. atom watchdog rejects Iran's call to close case By Louis Charbonneau and Mark Trevelyan
VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog voiced "serious concern" on Monday at omissions in Iran's declarations about its nuclear activities and rejected a call from Tehran to drop investigations.
Mohamed ElBaradei singled out Tehran's failure last October to mention that it had designs for advanced centrifuges capable of producing highly enriched uranium for use in a nuclear reactor or, potentially, in an atomic weapon.
"I am seriously concerned that Iran's October declaration did not include any reference to its possession of P2 centrifuge designs and related R&D (research and development), which in my view was a setback to Iran's stated policy of transparency," ElBaradei said. He was addressing the board of governors of the U.N. watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as they opened a closed-door meeting which will consider how to proceed with Iran.
Iranian ambassador Pirooz Hosseini told reporters that Tehran was the victim of a "war of propaganda" and Iranian officials had been misquoted by the press last year as saying the October dossier was complete.
"At the time...we were not obliged to announce everything," he said, in remarks which contrasted with Iranian comments at the time.
Iran insists it is building a nuclear programme purely to generate electricity. The United States accuses Tehran of systematic deception and says it is bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.
ElBaradei urged Tehran to ensure full transparency and help restore international confidence by "taking the initiative to provide all relevant information in full detail and in a prompt manner".
A senior Iranian official said on Sunday that the IAEA should remove Iran from its agenda and confirm its innocence.
"The case concerning Iran's peaceful nuclear activities should be completely closed at the IAEA Board of Governors and removed from its agenda," Supreme National Security Council secretary Hassan Rohani said on state television. UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS
But ElBaradei said the board would remove the issue from its agenda only when all its unresolved questions were answered.
"I think the issue will be removed from the agenda when we are done with all the issues that are outstanding," he said. The main issue is the nature of Tehran's enrichment programme and the origin of highly enriched uranium found by U.N. inspectors last year.
Revelations in recent weeks that a top Pakistani atomic scientist sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya have intensified international concern that "rogue states" or terrorists could get their hands on weapons of mass destruction.
ElBaradei himself has spoken of an extensive international network of black-market proliferators. The IAEA chief told governors that export controls needed to become broader and tighter, and mechanisms must be put in place to ensure the agency was told of all sensitive nuclear or nuclear-related technology transfers.
He said he would soon appoint expert groups to look at the possibility of setting up regional centres to tighten control over activities like nuclear fuel production, processing of weapons-usable material and disposal of waste.
"The nuclear non-proliferation regime remains under stress, and a range of measures will be needed to restore confidence in its effectiveness," he said.
The United States is holding out the example of Libya, which unexpectedly renounced all its WMD programmes in December, as one for Iran and others to follow.
IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Russia took delivery on Monday of an air cargo of highly enriched uranium removed from Libya as part of Tripoli's disarmament.
She told reporters the uranium was 80 percent enriched, very close to being pure enough to use in a nuclear weapon. Russia would now blend it down into low-enriched uranium. Fleming said Libya, along with Niger, would sign an Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on Wednesday, permitting intrusive snap inspections to verify its future compliance.
**** Nice little tidbit on the tail of the article.
I mean, if Niger was as secure a locale as ol' Ambassador Wilson was trying to spin it, then why is Niger only now signing the Nonproliferation Treaty- and alongside Libya, no less?
Where did Libya obtain its uranium, by the way? From itself or from other sources?
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