Germany has always maintained good ties with Iran: Polenz
By Kourosh Ziabari

Although the level of bilateral ties between Iran and European Union members have had their ups and downs over the years, Germany is still one of the Islamic Republic’s three leading trade partners.

According to the German Foreign Ministry, the entire value of goods imported from Iran in 2008 was €577 million, which is a €115 million rise in comparison with 2005, before the harsher anti-Iranian sanctions had been imposed.

A delegation of Iranian MPs recently made a brief trip to Germany in early March to hold talks with German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and the influential chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament, Ruprecht Polenz.

Shortly after his meetings with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Majlis Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy, and other Iranian MPs, in an email communication Polenz told me, “During the course of the visit, we met the Iranian delegation on three occasions for very intensive discussions.

“The discussions centered on the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in the Middle East, the situation in Iraq, Iran-U.S. relations, the Iranian nuclear program and human rights situation, in particular, the imposition of the death sentence for (offenders who committed crimes while still) minors.

“Germany has traditionally maintained good relations with Iran. In the EU 3+3 negotiations, though, we are not participating as mediators, but rather as part of the international community of states, which has made far-reaching proposals to Iran on cooperation and, in return, expects objective guarantees that the Iranian nuclear program will remain peaceful in the long term.”

Asked if Germany’s stance on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program is truly impartial, in light of the fact that Israel is never taken to task for its nuclear arsenal, Polenz stated, “Germany is one of those countries which decided against having nuclear weapons. We would like to see a strengthening of the non-proliferation regime. Germany therefore expects substantial progress on nuclear disarmament at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference next year.

“At the same time, progress should be achieved in preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons amongst states which are not yet nuclear powers.

“And this might include, for example, strengthening the monitoring powers of the International Atomic Energy Agency, making it more difficult to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and abandon the non-proliferation regime and, above all, the commitment to only carry out uranium enrichment in future in a multinational framework, subject to strict supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

Polenz, who is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, sees a positive signal in the U.S. president’s Iranian New Year message to Iran.

“President Obama’s New Year message to the Iranian people and leadership, with his open offer of a ‘new beginning’, has been basically well received by the Iranian leadership.”

Polenz also stressed the necessity of tackling one of Iran’s major regional concerns, namely drug production in Afghanistan. “Some progress has been made in the fight against drug cultivation in Afghanistan.

“In many Afghan provinces, opium poppy cultivation no longer takes place; nevertheless, this problem remains one of the most difficult.

“A successful anti-narcotics policy must comprise several elements: alternative income-generating opportunities for poppy farmers, effective measures to prevent the cultivation of opium poppies, measures to combat corruption amongst local officials and police officers, better monitoring of transit routes, rigorous action against processing facilities, and, not least, prevention of consumption in the countries of destination.

“The goal of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan is to enable the country to take on responsibility for its own security in the future; in other words, Afghanistan must be able to guarantee the security of its own citizens and ensure that no threats to the region or the international community are generated on its territory, as was the case in the 1990s, when Al-Qaeda planned and carried out attacks across the world from Afghanistan.

“The idea is for a regional political approach to get Afghanistan’s neighbors more strongly involved in this process than previously, something which is also in the interest of all neighboring states.”

Polenz said the international community is involved in “numerous development-assistance projects to enhance the Afghan education and health system” as well as infrastructure projects to build streets and provide water and electricity supplies.

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