TEHRAN, Jan. 16--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Kuwaiti counterpart Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah stressed the determination of the two countries to move ahead in strengthening bilateral relations.
Mottaki met with his Kuwaiti counterpart on Wednesday to kick off the first Iran-Kuwait Economic Commission, Alalam.ir reported.
The two ministers signed 17 agreements concerning expansion of cooperation in various fields, including the memorandum of understanding of the first session of the joint commission.
The establishment of the commission is aimed at strengthening ties between Iran and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) as well as to oversee joint investments in different projects, including Tehran’s water and gas transfer to Kuwait.
Mottaki and the Kuwaiti minister announced their determination to take robust measures to enhance their bilateral relations.
After signing the agreements, Mottaki said Iran-Kuwait ties have entered a new phase thanks to their good bilateral relations and noted that promotion of ties was the result of the political will of senior Iranian and Kuwaiti officials.
He noted that amicable ties are the best asset for the diplomatic body of Iran and Kuwait in promoting issues of mutual interest.
For his part, the Kuwaiti minister also acknowledged that a new page has been turned in ties with Iran.
Al-Sabah said strengthening ties between Iran and the member-states of PGCC got a shot in the arm after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s participation in the PGCC summit in Qatar.
Highlighting Iran’s role in the region, Al-Sabah also praised Iran’s support for an Arab League initiative for resolving the Lebanese crisis, endorsed by the foreign ministers of the 22-nation organization.
He also commended the Islamic Republic’s efforts to quell terrorism in neighboring Iraq and also for helping Iraqi groups form a common front against Al-Qaeda insurgents.
The foreign minister, who returned to Tehran on Tuesday evening at the head of a delegation, described Iran-Kuwait relations as “excellent and strong“.
Upon his arrival, Mottaki told reporters: “We look forward to these meetings as a good sign which can open the way for bilateral cooperation in various fields. We hope to materialize plans on broader prospects for bilateral cooperation.“

Sadness and grief have gripped Iranians, as they mourn the tragedy of Karbala where Imam Hussein (AS), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and his companions were martyred.
Commemorative ceremonies and rallies are held
nationwide to mark that momentous day in history.
We express our condolences to our Muslim readers on this sad occasion.
Our next issue will be out after the public holidays on Jan. 20.

TEHRAN, Jan. 16--Russian energy giant Gazprom is planning to offer Tehran new prospects of oil and gas cooperation, Iran’s oil minister said on Tuesday.
Gholamhossein Nozari added that the Russian company is interested in oil and gas prospecting, construction of pipelines and development of oil and gas deposits in Iran, Alalalm.ir reported.
“We have held serious talks with Gazprom officials and agree that the Russian company will present its proposals on bilateral energy cooperation by mid-March,“ Nozari said.
Iran and Gazprom previously discussed prospects of bilateral cooperation in December last year when Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noqrehkar-Shirazi and Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller met in Moscow.
The parties identified oil and gas deposit exploration and development--in particular the further development of energy-rich South Pars deposit in Iran--as priority areas for cooperation.
Stages 2 and 3 of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf were initiated by an international consortium comprising France’s Total (which holds a 40 percent stake), Malaysia’s Petronas (30 percent) and Russia’s Gazprom (30 percent) in 1997.
The consortium built two offshore platforms with 10 production wells each, two 100-km (62-mile) underwater gas pipelines and an onshore gas plant with an annual capacity of 20 billion cubic meters.
With proven gas reserves of more than 28 trillion cubic meters, Iran produced 105 billion cubic meters of gas in 2006.

TEHRAN, Jan. 16--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed condolences to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh over the death and injury of scores of Palestinians in Gaza strip.
In a telephone conversation with Haniyeh on Wednesday, the president sympathized with the Hamas government on the death of 19 Palestinians and injury of 45 others, IRNA reported.
Ahmadinejad strongly condemned the Israeli invasion of Gaza and said the Palestinian nation is exposed to oppression for safeguarding their dignity and religion empty-handed, noting that the Palestinian nation will certainly be victorious.
President Ahmadinejad also expressed condolences over the martyrdom of Hussam Al-Zahar, 24, son of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar.
He said the Israeli regime and its supporters think that such heinous crimes will force the Palestinians to back down on their legitimate demand to liberate their territories from Israeli occupation.
Haniyeh thanked the president for his sympathy with the bereaved families and said such crimes can never affect the national movement to liberate the occupied territories.
Israel killed 19 Palestinians and wounded 45 others in an attack on Gaza Strip on Tuesday

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 16--Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal says the Islamic Republic of Iran is “an important neighbor“ in the region which does not pose any threat to other countries.
At a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday in the Saudi capital, Faisal poured cold water on US President George W. Bush’s recent bid to isolate Iran and said escalation of tension was not in the interest of regional states, AP reported.
Al-Faisal said Riyadh’s national interests came first when dealing with Tehran.
“We have relations with Iran and we talk with them, and if we felt any danger we have links...that allow us to talk about. So we welcome any issue the president [Bush] raises and we will discuss them from our point of view,“ he said. Such bluntness is unprecedented in US-Saudi relations.
For her part, Rice said Washington would not backtrack on its hostile policy against Iran unless Tehran gave up its nuclear activities and abided by UN Security Council resolutions.
Bush, who is on a tour of Mideast countries, has leveled new accusations against Iran, calling it a ’threat’ and urging Arab allies of the Persian Gulf to support US policies in the region.
In a speech in the United Arab Emirates, Bush accused the Islamic Republic of seeking “to intimidate its neighbors with missiles and bellicose rhetoric“, adding “Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere“.
On the eve of Bush’s arrival in Riyadh on Monday, the leading Al-Riyadh newspaper, which is a mouthpiece of the government, said Saudi Arabia refused to be drawn into wars or tensions with Iran and its nuclear issue should be solved through diplomatic means and dialogue.
It advised Bush that he was “welcome as a man of peace, but not as a man of war“ and that if he sought Arab solidarity, then “he must focus rationally on the most important issue which is the question of peace“.
Al-Riyadh urged Bush “not to preoccupy himself with a danger which the US intelligence has qualified as nonexistent in the short term,“ a reference to the NIE report that said Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program.
Similarly, influential Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said on Sunday, “Iran and Saudi Arabia can turn into a proper model for the rest of the Islamic world through mutual cooperation and with the help of other regional states.“
Naimi said recent developments such as the Saudi invitation to the Iranian president to participate in the Haj pilgrimage were “clear indications of deepening of Riyadh’s relations with Tehran“.

PARIS, Jan. 16--The percentage of French people unhappy with President Nicolas Sarkozy’s leadership now exceeds those who approve of it, according to a poll.
The poll published on Tuesday by the BVA agency said 48 percent of French people have a negative opinion of Sarkozy, while 45 percent see him positively, Alalam.ir reported.
Sarkozy’s approval ratings have dropped six points in a month, and the poll was the first since his May election to suggest that more people disapproved of him than approved of him.
Jerome de Sainte-Marie, BVA’s polling director, said voters were concerned about low purchasing power in France, despite Sarkozy’s pledges to improve the situation.
He said the drop in approval ratings was strongest among seniors, who may have been motivated by concerns about the economy or value judgments about Sarkozy’s lifestyle.
Some voters have been irritated by Sarkozy’s flaunting of his whirlwind romance with former supermodel Carla Bruni, and news reports have detailed their lavish gifts to each other and high-profile trips to Egypt and Jordan.
Sarkozy divorced his second wife, Cecilia, in October.
The poll, for Express magazine and France Telecom’s mobile phone business Orange, surveyed 1,051 people age 18 and up in face-to-face interviews Jan. 10-12. No margin of error was provided.