Monday, Dec 03, 2007
(This item was originally published Sunday.)
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Iran offered to help the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council with expertise to build a nuclear power plant and two officials made a presentation before GCC officials at Doha, Qatar, on Sunday, persons familiar with the matter told Zawya Dow Jones.
The officials made the presentation at a GCC finance ministers' meeting, the persons said. They didn't give further details, but said the Iranians will meet with GCC foreign ministers later Sunday.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told Dow Jones Newswires at a summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' heads of state in Saudi Arabia last month that he will consult with other Arab nations on a plan to enrich uranium outside the Middle East in a neutral country such as Switzerland.
Ahmadinejad will be attending the GCC heads of state on Dec. 3-4. The GCC is made up of the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Under a recent proposal put to Tehran by the GCC, a multinational consortium established by the GCC would provide enriched uranium to power plants in the Islamic Republic.
According to the Gulf governments' proposal, an enrichment facility in a country like Switzerland would produce nuclear fuel that the consortium would supply to Iran and other Middle East states.
Persian Gulf monarchies are assessing bringing nuclear technology to GCC member states as an alternative to gas and liquid fuels to run their power plants and water desalination facilities.
A decision by the GCC's supreme council on whether to go ahead with the nuclear energy plans is anticipated as early as December, Holger Rogner, section head at the IAEA, told Zawya Dow Jones last month.
Energy requirements are rising rapidly in Persian Gulf countries driven by governments spending billions of dollars in oil revenues on new industries and infrastructure, and by growing populations.
GCC countries consider nuclear energy to be a potential alternative to traditional hydrocarbon resources, especially gas, which is presently in short supply in the region due to high usage in industries and power plants.
The GCC nuclear energy plan comes amidst rising tensions between Iran and the U.S. and its allies over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
Iran has been accused of developing atomic weapons in violation of international treaty commitments, a claim the Islamic republic rejects.
-By Majdoline Hatoum, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714-3644964; majdoline.hatoum@dowjones.com (Shaji Mathew in Dubai contributed to this story.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-12-07 0546GMT
