AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
JAKARTA: Iran's controversial nuclear programme is expected to eclipse a summit of eight large Muslim countries this week on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to attend the summit of the Developing-8 (D-8) group on Saturday in Bali's Nusa Dua along with an expected seven other leaders or their representatives.
Ahead of that, foreign ministers from the eight nations — Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey — have been invited to meet on Thursday.
Ahmadinejad's Bali visit will be preceded by three days of appointments in Jakarta, during which he may ask Indonesia to play a mediating role with Western nations over Iran's nuclear program, analysts have said.
The Bali meeting is to take place against a backdrop of diplomatic tension over Iran's refusal to stop enriching uranium to make nuclear fuel.
Iran says its nuclear activities are solely aimed at generating electricity but Western countries suspect it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
The D-8 forum focuses on commercial and economic cooperation among member states, including in the areas of science, industry and investment.
The Bali summit will in particular discuss ways to avert a global energy crisis by developing renewable energy sources, including nuclear power, the Indonesian foreign ministry has said.
Indonesia, which will take over the group's chairmanship from Iran, has drafted a resolution on the peaceful use of nuclear energy for discussion in Bali, said the ministry's director for multilateral affairs, Mohammad Hidayat.
“In our efforts to avert an energy crisis, we need to develop renewable energy sources, including nuclear energy,” he said.
The D-8 summit is also expected to come up with agreements on preferential trade and customs matters as well as a declaration by the leaders on global issues.
Iran could use the nuclear energy resolution to try to muster support from other D-8 member countries for its nuclear programme, Hidayat was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Post.
“But it depends on other countries, whether they can accept it as an agenda during the summit. I think it is more appropriate if they do it on a bilateral basis,” he said.
Iran announced last month that it had successfully enriched uranium to make reactor fuel for power plants.
The United States has been pushing for a tough UN Security Council resolution to force Iran to halt uranium enrichment activities but Russia and China, which both wield a veto on the 15-member Security Council, have resisted punitive measures against Iran, their ally and key trading partner.
Security Council members are bargaining over a draft resolution proposed by France and Britain that would legally require Iran to freeze all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.
The D-8 summit will also be attended by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia and Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Egypt and Bangladesh will be represented by ministers.
The group held their first summit in 1997 and last met in Tehran in February 2004.
