Some distance away from reaching agreement in Vienna talks

Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, made the remarks after attending Wednesday's meeting of the Joint Commission on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, according to a report by Xinhua news agency.

The current negotiations are generally progressing, but there is still some distance away from the goal of reaching an agreement, Wang said.

The China's envoy said all parties concerned should uphold a rational and pragmatic attitude and put forward realistic and feasible proposals regarding the lifting of sanctions, measures in the nuclear field and the sequence in which the United States and Iran return to compliance with the nuclear deal, in order to promote the formation of a comprehensive and effective plan.

Wang said China also hopes that Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will reach a timely arrangement on the extension of the "temporary bilateral technical understanding," which was agreed between the two sides in February.

Wednesday's meeting marked the end of the fourth round of negotiations of the Joint Commission and the participants agreed to reconvene next week.

The meeting was chaired by Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary-general and political director of the European External Action Service and attended by representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran.

Mora told journalists after the meeting that the fourth round of talks over the past ten days has been "the longest" and "the most productive."

"We have made substantial progress. There are still things to be worked out," he said.

Meanwhile, at the end of the meeting, the Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted, "The 4th round of the Vienna talks is over. The #JCPOA participants at their meeting today noted that “good”or “significant” progress was made and that an agreement is “within reach”. The Joint Commission will resume its work early next week. Hopefully the 5th round will be final."

Furthermore, the head of the Iranian delegation at the talks Abbass Araghchi said after yesterday's meeting that "very good progress was made," though, he added there are still issues remaining to be agreed upon.

KI/PR