Ahmadinejad assesses as step forward Geneva talks on Iran N-problem.

TEHRAN, July 20 (Itar-Tass) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appraised the talks between Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and political directors of the Six (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) on the Iranian nuclear problem as "a step forward".

"Any talks are regarded as a forward step," said on Sunday the Iranian chief executive. "The same can be also said of Saturday's meeting."

In the meantime, in the opinion of Jalili's negotiators, consultations held in Geneva on Saturday did not yield any positive results.

It was expected at the meeting in Switzerland, that Solana, in the presence of political directors of the Six, including US Under-Secretary of State William Burns, will hear a reply of the Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council to new proposals of the Six, forwarded to Iran last June.

Initiatives include various economic incentives and projects for
diversified cooperation, including in the sphere of peaceful atom,
suggested to Tehran in exchange for its refusal from work on uranium
enrichment, provoking apprehensions of the international community.

However, Solana said after the negotiations "we have not received a clear-cut reply - either positive or negative". It is now supposed that Tehran will inform of its decision within two weeks.