Original source URL: http://abcasiapacific.com/news/stories/asiapacific_stories_1665193.htm China's president calls for closer ties with Iran China's president Hu Jintao has called for closer ties with Iran while meeting his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the first time. President Hu gave Mr Ahmadinejad a warm welcome, saying he hoped they would have many opportunities to take the relationship between China and Iran to the next level. China and Iran have long had close economic ties, especially in the oil and gas fields, and are currently in negotiations over an energy deal that could be worth more than $US100 billion. Mr Ahmadinejad arrived in China on Wednesday to participate in the leaders' summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional forum that is increasingly being seen as a counterweight to US influence in Central Asia. The SCO groups China and Russia with the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia, are observer nations. Mr Ahmadinejad's invitation to China for the summit drew criticism from the United States, which accuses Iran of being the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism. His talks with president Hu and Russian President Vladimir Putin come at a crucial stage in the stand-off over Iran's nuclear program, with Tehran remaining non-committal over an international incentives package aimed at enticing it to suspend uranian enrichment. ABC Asia Pacific TV / Radio Australia -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
