Washington, April 13: US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao have agreed to work together on sanctions against Iran on nuclear non-proliferation issue and said the country needs to meet its international commitment.
During the meeting, President Obama and Hu underscored their agreement that Iran must meet its international nuclear non-proliferation obligations, Jeff Bader, the National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs, told reporters.
Obama met Hu for over an hour-and-a-half minutes long meeting here on the sidelines of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit.
“The two Presidents agreed to instruct their delegations to work with P5-plus-1 and UN Security Council representatives on a sanctions resolution. The resolution will make clear to Iran the costs of pursuing a nuclear programme that violates Iran’s obligations and responsibilities,” he said.
Noting that the tone of the conversation was positive and constructive, Bader said it was a meeting without talking points — a conversation between two leaders who are familiar and comfortable talking with each other about bilateral relations and where they stand.
“The two Presidents discussed ways to expand our interests and responsibilities in dealing with global challenges, in particular non-proliferation and the global economic recovery.
They agreed that the US and China need to take concrete actions on these issues to underpin our development of a partnership,” he said.
On non-proliferation, much of the discussion of the meeting focused on Iran, he said.
“The issue was discussed at length. The Chinese very clearly share our concern about the Iranian nuclear programme. They share our overall goal of preservation of the non-proliferation regime.
The US and China along with other members of the P5-plus-1 are united in our dual-track approach to the Iran nuclear issue, Bader said.
–PTI