Japanese Foreign Ministry's Deputy Director General for Press and Public Diplomacy Koichi Mizushima has expressed his country’s readiness to cooperate with Iran to build nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic.

Mizushima, who is accompanying Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in his official visit to Tehran, made the remarks while speaking to reporters on Sunday.

He added that after the settlement of Iran’s nuclear issue, Japan will be ready to help Tehran to construct nuclear power plants if demanded by the Iranian side.

The Japanese official also stated that the Japanese foreign minister held “very good and constructive” talks with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani on Saturday.

The Japanese diplomat said Kishida had held detailed discussions with Iranian officials about Tehran’s nuclear issue as his visit is taking place simultaneous with negotiations between Iran and the six major world powers.

Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the US -- plus Germany over Tehran’s nuclear energy program kicked off on November ۷ and stretched into an unscheduled third day.

Iran and the six world powers have agreed to continue negotiations on November 20 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mizushima further noted that the Japanese foreign minister attaches special significance to Iran nuclear issue and has always made great efforts to implement a world free of nuclear weapons.

He stressed the importance of Japan’s ties with Iran as a key regional country and said the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved to help Tehran and Tokyo improve bilateral trade and economic relations.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union having used the allegation as a pretext to impose sanctions on Iran.

Tehran strongly rejects the claim, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes./mrkd