The European Union on Friday urged Iran to return to negotiations and not seek confrontations over its nuclear program.

"We want cooperation with Iran on quite a number of things, including the development of civilian nuclear technology," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the current EU presidency, said at the beginning of a two-day informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Bildt said that if Iran is willing to engage with the EU, it is ready to cooperate with Tehran but "If they decide to go for confrontation, then confrontation will happen."

Another important topic expected to be discussed at the meeting was the Middle East peace process.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who recently visited the Middle East, called for "some new dynamic" in the peace process in the coming weeks, not least on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.

The EU foreign ministers also were to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. Bildt, who visited Afghanistan this week, will brief the meeting on the situation there.

According to the agenda, the foreign ministers of candidate countries Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey will join a lunch discussion with the 27 EU members on the second day.

The two-day informal meeting will make no decisions and will not present a final declaration.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2009)