The Italian Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini, has called on the West to encourage the policies of the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami.

On his return from a visit to Iran, the first by a European Union minister for nearly a year, Mr Dini told Reuters news agency that Mr Khatami was trying to change Iranian society, and that he had the support of the majority of its people.

He also said he was encouraged by Mr Khatami's assurances that Iran did not support terrorism. But Mr Dini said each step forward by Mr Khatami would be accompanied by a half-step back, and called for patience.

Lamberto Dini has Italian as well as European interests at heart

Mr Dini's two-day visit to Iran is the first by a European Union minister for nearly a year.

Iran backs fight against terrorism

Last year, the EU imposed a ban on ministerial contacts with Iran after a German court ruled last April that Iranian leaders ordered the killings of three Kurdish dissidents in a Berlin restaurant in 1992; the EU lifted the ban only last week.

And during his visit Mr Dini held talks with the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, who said his country now wants to co-operate in the fight against international terrorism.

Mr Khatami said Iran opposed violence in any form, but he said he believed that unfair attitudes towards certain nations could lead people to resort to violence.

On Sunday, after talks with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, Mr Dini said he believes that Iran is no longer an obstacle to the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Warm welcome

Iran has taken a warmer approach to contact

Mr Dini arrived in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Saturday on a mission to re-establish links less than a week after the EU lifted its ban on bilateral ministerial contacts with the Islamic republic.

He was given a warm reception by Iranian officials.

"Our objective is to contribute to the normalisation of relations and to the stability of the country and therefore of the region," Mr Dini told reporters before his flight landed. "For this, there has to be an opening of dialogue on both the political and economic level."

The English-language Iran News welcomed Mr Dini's visit in an editorial. "By visiting Iran now, Dini seems to convey a message that his government wants to let bygones be bygones and begin a new chapter in Rome-Tehran relations," it said.

A new course

Before he arrived Mr Dini said Iran appeared to be headed on a new course following President Khatami's election last May.

However, he stressed that Italy, like its EU partners, wanted to see tangible evidence of commitments made by Iran against the use of terrorism as a political weapon and on human rights.

He said it was crucial for Iran, which has huge natural gas resources, to renew its oil and energy contracts to enable it to boost its economy.

He also said Italy was in a key geographical position to offer the shortest and cheapest route for Caspian Sea states to export their oil and gas to world markets.

"The obstacle is US sanctions for investment in the energy sector," Mr Dini said.
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©