Iranian foreign minister to attend Istanbul conference on Ahmadinejad’s advice

TEHRAN,Nov.2(MNA)-- At the invitation of Turkish officials and on the advice of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran`s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will participate in a conference on security situation in Afghanistan which is scheduled to be held in Istanbul on Wednesday. On the conference in Istanbul, Salehi said, “We held some negotiations with Turkish officials over the statement (that will be) issued at the end of the conference, and as a result, many views of the Islamic Republic were mentioned in the statement.” He went on to say that the issue of Afghanistan is of high importance and Iran as its neighbor wants stability and security to prevail in the country, adding that Iran will support any effort by the international community to accomplish the objective. He also expressed hope that the conference would be fruitful in helping efforts to promote security and stability in the country. In reply to a question about his recent trips to Qatar and Iraq, Salehi said that discussing regional security with the neighboring countries was one of the reasons behind the trips. The Iranian minister also said that regional countries can preserve security in the region only through cooperation with each other.