Julian Borger
March 25, 2012A historic conference (click title to entry - thank you) bringing Iran and Israel together with Arab states to discuss a ban on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the Middle East is scheduled to take place in Helsinki in December, it has emerged.
The Finnish organisers of the United Nations-backed bid to establish a zone free of weapons of mass destruction are said to be cautiously optimistic that the conference will go ahead despite high tensions in the Gulf.
The Finnish team has held about 70 meetings with officials in the region and made repeated trips to Israel and Iran since the veteran diplomat Jaakko Laajava was appointed ''facilitator'' of the consensus in October. So far, none of the countries invited to Helsinki have turned the invitation down....
