Reuters, Vienna :
Iran and six world powers have agreed on an agenda for negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and will meet again in the second half of March in Vienna, a senior Iranian official said after two days of talks in the Austrian capital.
Although modest in scope, the agreement on an agenda indicates an early step forward in the elusive search for a settlement of the decade-old dispute.
However, the sides remain far apart on how to resolve the dispute and both Iran and the United States have publicly stated it may not be possible to reach a final agreement.
Negotiators from Iran and the powers – the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia – have been meeting since Tuesday in Vienna to hammer out an agenda for talks on a final deal to the standoff over Tehran’s atomic activities.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the official IRNA news agency: “The involved parties have agreed on an agenda and a framework and the next round of talks will be in the second half of March in Vienna.”
The semi-official Iranian news agency Fars said the next round of meetings would be held from March 17-20.
“We’ve agreed a rough schedule and a set of issues we will tackle,” a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
A senior US. state department official said of Wednesday’s second day of talks: “Today’s discussions, which covered both process and substance, were constructive and useful.”
Araqchi’s statement was also carried by Iran’s English-language Press TV state television on its web site.
The meeting was due to resume early Thursday with a news conference expected later by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton – who is coordinating the talks on behalf of the powers – and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
