FM due in Norway for talks, Oslo Forum

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Norway to hold talks with the European country’s officials and participate in an international forum.

Zarif and his accompanying delegation will leave Tehran for Oslo on Sunday night for a two-day visit to hold negotiations with Norwegian authorities and take part in the Oslo Forum, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari told IRIB on Saturday.

He added that the top Iranian diplomat will also hold meetings with senior officials of countries attending the international event.

Zarif will then visit Berlin for a few hours to meet with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier before flying back to Tehran, Jaberi Ansari said.

It is also likely that Zarif will meet and hold talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is due to attend the Oslo Forum on the sidelines of the event.

The Oslo Forum is widely regarded as the leading international network of armed conflict mediation practitioners. It regularly convenes senior conflict mediators, high level decision makers, key peace process actors, analysts and experts from a variety of institutional backgrounds in a series of informal and discreet retreats.

Co-hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, the Oslo Forum features an annual global event in Oslo and is complemented by regional retreats in Africa and Asia.

The 2016 Oslo Forum is scheduled for May 23–25, 2016.

SS