Day: November 25, 2021

VIENNA— The UN nuclear watchdog’s head said there had been “no progress” in talks with Iran to resolve disputes over the monitoring of the country’s atomic programme, a day after returning from Tehran.

 

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a quarterly meeting of the agency’s board that his talks in Tehran were “inconclusive”, despite being “constructive”.

 

Grossi had sought to tackle constraints put on IAEA inspections earlier this year, outstanding questions over the presence of undeclared nuclear material at sites in Iran, and the treatment of IAEA staff in the country.

 

“In terms of the substance… we were not able to make progress,” Grossi told reporters, saying that the lack of agreement had come “in spite of my best efforts”.

 

Among other officials in Tehran, he met Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

 

The talks came ahead of the scheduled resumption on Monday of negotiations between Tehran and world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 deal that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

 

Iran began moving away from its commitments under the deal in 2019, a year after then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the accord and began reimposing sanctions.

 

One of the steps away from the deal came earlier this year when Iran began restricting some IAEA inspections activity.

 

Iran and the agency currently have a temporary agreement which gives the IAEA access to monitoring equipment at Iran’s nuclear facilities.

 

However, the Agency has warned that the agreement is not a durable solution and Grossi said he was “close to… the point where I would not be able to guarantee continuity of knowledge” of Iran’s nuclear programme if it continued.

 

Grossi also said he had raised concerns while in Tehran about security checks on IAEA inspectors which the agency has described as “excessively invasive”.

 

He noted that the IAEA and Iran had a legal agreement “which is intended to protect inspectors from intimidation, from seizure of their property”.

 

“Our Iranian colleagues have instituted a number of measures which are simply incompatible” with this, he said.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

CYBERJAYA— Turkey plans to jointly manufacture the country’s home-made Light combat-trainer jet, “Hurjet”, with Malaysia should the tender process be successful, said the President and Chief Executive Officer of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Prof Temel Kotil.

 

He said this is an effort to strengthen the global aviation industry in their respective regions, and that 15 jets will be built in Malaysia and another three will be built in Turkey should the tender process be successful.

 

“We want to contribute to the capacity building of Malaysia to produce such aircraft as we see Malaysia as one of the best countries to collaborate with strategically in Asia-Pacific.” he told a press conference after attending the new Turkish Aerospace’s office opening ceremony officiated by Minister of International Trade and Industry, Mohamed Azmin Ali, at Cyberview Futurise campus, here, Wednesday.

 

Hürjet is an Advanced Jet Trainer and Light Attack Aircraft. According to the company, it is a single engine, tandem-seat with modern avionics and high-performance features. The aircraft’s first flight is forecast for the last quarter of 2022.

 

Commenting on the new office, Kotil said the Turkish Aerospace office in Malaysia will be the company’s first engineering and design office in Southeast Asia, where the company will continue its investments and collaborations in Malaysia for the development of new generation technologies, particularly in the field of defence industry and aviation.

 

Meanwhile, Azmin, in his speech, said that the bilateral linkages between Malaysia and Turkey continue to grow from strength to strength.

 

“In fact, as recently as last week, officials from MITI, led by my Secretary General, were in Ankara, Turkey, to meet with Turkish trade officials to negotiate the expansion of our existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

 

“Once concluded, the expanded FTA will also cover trade in services, investment and electronic commerce. I am pleased to share that the talks last week made substantial progress and both sides are now on track to conclude the text-based negotiations by the end of this year, and finalise the entire package of the FTA by the middle of 2022,” he said.

 

The minister said as of June 2021, a total of 13 manufacturing projects with Turkish participation have been approved with total investments of US$120.7 million (RM510.4 million), adding the government will continue to focus on attracting high quality investments which have elements outlined in the National Investment Aspirations (NIA) framework.

 

Meanwhile, Ambassador of Turkey to Malaysia Dr Merve Safa Kavakci, in her speech, said that there were only 62 ongoing defence industry projects in Turkey in 2002, and today the figure has surpassed 750.

 

“Turkish Aerospace should be seen as a highly valued beacon of knowledge, experience and excellence.

 

“We are pleased to see that Turkish defence industry companies are engaged in many solid cooperation projects in different parts of the world, including Malaysia,” she said.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KATHMANDU – The Chinese Embassy in Nepal, yesterday, handed over books to five more Nepali schools, under a library project known as the “Panda Book Corner.”

 

Books granted to the schools cover classical Chinese historical stories, and fine Chinese traditional culture, as well as, development achievements made in modern China, including those in the Tibet Autonomous Region that borders Nepal, Chinese Ambassador, Hou Yanqi, told the handover ceremony held in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.

 

Devendra Paudel, Nepal’s minister for education, science and technology, voiced his hope for more support from China, on education.

 

“On behalf of the Nepali government, I would like to request the Chinese government to help Nepal in improving the quality of Nepal’s education,” he said, at the handover ceremony.

 

Nearly 15,000 books have been granted to 15 Nepali schools, along with some bookshelves, since the “Panda Book Corner” project was launched in Dec, 2018, according to Hou.

 

Krishav Pant, a seventh-grader from LRI School in Kathmandu, started to learn Chinese, when he was a third-grader. He took part in many Chinese language contests with good results, most of the time. He voiced his appreciation for these events, which he said, had helped him and others to learn more about China and improve their Chinese language level.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK