Michael Mann, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief told reporters on Sunday before Ashton’s press conference that Zarif-Ashton meeting encompassed several issues. Asked whether Ukrainian crisis was also in the agenda, Mann told that he had not known about the story, but that “important regional issues were in the agenda for discussion.”
“Iran’s human rights record has been always a priority for EU and I think it is an issue in the meeting for sure,” Mann told reporters.
A group of women’s rights activists also had met with Ashton in the occasion of March 8 international women’s day.
Mann assessed the visit as highly important, since “this is the first formal visit by an EU high-ranking official in few recent years.”
Mann speculated that with positive atmosphere in first round of talks in Vienna, discussing more broad issues would be possible as well.
SH/ZK
MNA
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