aki - Iran nuclear: Solana confirms talks with Larijani Saturday.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed Thursday he is going to meet Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani to discuss a way out of the international standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, in the Portuguese capital Lisbon on Saturday.
The UN Security Council has approved two waves of sanctions against Iran over sensitive nuclear work the international community fears is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
During a previous meeting on 31 May, Larijani told Solana Iran was available to offer soon clarifications on its nuclear programme demanded by the UN atomic watchdog over suspicions it is seeking atomic weapons. Solana had then only announced progress "on some important issues" to be further discussed at their next meeting.
aki - Italy-Emirates: International economic forum kicks off.
The 'Italy-United Arab Emirates, Development Guidelines for Shared Growth' economic forum opens on Friday in the Umbrian town of Assisi. The event, taking place as trade between the two countries is burgeoning, forms part of the 'Assisi Endurance Lifestyle' 2007 trade fair.
On in Assisi until Monday, the fair aims to promote investment between the two countries and exchange good practices in the areas of business, tourism, sport and culture.
Meetings between Italian and UAE companies during the forum will seek to boost bilateral industrial and commercial ties: The UAE together with Saudi Arabia forms the main market for Italian exports in the Gulf region. Visits by UAE businessmen and businesswomen to industrial zones in central Italy -- where the region of Umbria is located -- are also planned.
The strongest Italian export sectors to the UAE are jewellery and goldsmith's art, machinery and tools, white goods, furniture, lamps and soft furnishings, as well as footwear and leather goods, ceramic tiles, marble and stone. Senior representatives from firms in these sectors as well as ambassadors from Italy and the UAE will be attending the forum, taking place at the Lyrick Theatre in Assisi.
The trade fair is being promoted and organised by Italy's foreign trade ministry, ICE, as well as the Umbrian branch of the main Italian business association Confindustria, the regional agency for tourism and the Umbrian regional chamber of commerce.
Italy's undersecretary for foreign trade, Mauro Agostini, foreign trade ministry director general for development Gianfranco Caprioli, ICE director general, Massimo Mamberti, and Confindustria's diplomatic advisor, Vincenzo Petrone, will all be attending the forum, as well as local and regional government representatives.
Italy exported good worths 3.3 billion euros to the UAE in 2006 -- a 23.8 percent increase on 2005 -- while the UAE's imports to Italy rose by a more modest 2.5 percent in the same period to reach 268 million euros, according to Italy's foreign trade institute ICE.
aki - Spain: Foreign minister urges 'bold' migration policies at EU-Africa meet.
Europe and Africa must strike a balance between combatting illegal immigration and promoting legal immigration, integration and development policies, Spain's foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Thursday.
He was addressing senior representatives from European, North, West and Central African countries at the first follow up meeting to the Euro-African Conference on Migration and Development, held in the Moroccan capital Rabat, in July 2006.
Immigration is the big challenge of the 21st century but the responsibility for managing the phenomenon must be divided between the country of origin, of transit and of arrival of the migrants, Moratinos emphasised in his opening address.
Spain faces a constant flow of would be immigrants on the coasts of Andalusia and more recently of the Canary Islands. In 2006, more than 31,200 clandestine immigrants arrived on the Canary Island
At the first Euro-African conference on illegal migration organised last July by Spain and Morocco in Rabat, 57 countries agreed on a four-year plan to tackle illegal immigration to Europe. It included repatriation agreements between the home countries of migrants and the countries of destination of immigration flows, measures to identify would-be immigrants and police cooperation plans to alert countries of new migration flows.
The 'spirit of Rabat', Moratinos recalled, goes well beyond managing the flow of would-be migrants. He warned that "bold migration policies" were required that linked migration to development. "In this way, immigration will stop being an obligation for young Africans in the medium and long run," the minister said.
The action plan adopted in Rabat stressed the need to share the responsibility for illegal immigration between the migrants' countries of origin, transit and destination, Moratinos stressed.
The Madrid meeting prepared a second ministerial conference after Rabat, which is due to be held in Paris in 2008.
aki - EU: MEPs urge adoption of laws to curb racism and xenophobia.
European Union parliamentarians on Thursday adopted a report backing a legal framework to take effective action against racism and ...
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