Iran and China will meet at a conference on nuclear cooperation on April 11 in Beijing.
China was a member of the group of six major powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) that signed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to curtail its nuclear program in return for relief from international economic and banking sanctions.
The event follows other similar seminars to promote international cooperation on peaceful nuclear energy after the landmark accord went into force in January 2016, hosted by Brussels, Moscow and Isfahan.
Envoys from the other five parties to the historic nuclear deal will attend the Beijing meeting to explore prospects for broader nuclear cooperation within the framework of the pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, ISNA reported.
The Iranian delegation will discuss expansion of cooperation with the Chinese side in other areas of mutual interest and visit the nuclear facilities of the East Asian power. Among the nuclear curbs the JCPOA imposed on Iran’s nuclear program was a reconfiguration of the Khondab heavy water reactor to reduce its output of plutonium, a rare substance that can be used to produce nuclear warheads.
Iran has denied any intention to develop a nuclear bomb and insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
Tehran, Washington and Beijing released a joint “statement of intent” in October 2015, three months after the deal’s completion, to announce cooperation on the Khondab reconstruction project and shortly afterward a related document signed by all the parties to the nuclear agreement was released.
The deal commits the six powers, namely the US, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany, to contribute to the Khondab modernization project through a working group established after consultations with Iran and co-chaired by the US and China.
China is participating in the design and construction of the modernized reactor and, as the primary liaison between the working group and Iran, facilitates communications in the course of the project’s implementation.
Iran and China signed a deal a year ago to move ahead with the joint implementation of the project.
