US to attend SCO conference in Moscow

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-20 09:01

WASHINGTON -- The United States will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization conference to be held later this month in Moscow where American diplomats might have talks with Iranian delegates, the State Department said on Thursday.

"Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick Moon is planning to attend this Shanghai Cooperation Organization conference in Moscow on the 27th of March," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.

"Even though we're not a member (of the Shanghai group), we're not an observer, we think it's important. We're glad we were invited, and we look forward to attending," he noted, adding "And hopefully we can get something constructive out of this conference."

The United States has no plan for any substantive meetings with Iranians, Wood said. However, the spokesman added that "It's not unusual for US and Iranian officials to ... cross paths during a multilateral meeting. So I'm not going to rule anything in or rule anything out."

"It is a conference about Afghanistan and its neighbors. Iran is certainly a neighbor of Afghanistan's. And so ... we'll see."

It has been noticed that when the Moscow meeting is concluded, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend an international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague scheduled for March 31.

Wood said Wednesday that there will be no planned bilateral talks between Clinton and her counterpart from Tehran although he did not rule out a possible exchanges of words between Clinton and Iranian officials.

The United States, which severed its ties with Iran in 1980, has been at odds with Tehran on, among others, its support for militant groups and disputed nuclear activities.

Iran denies the US charges, and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.