Berlin - Germany called on Iran Thursday to respond to overtures from the European Union and the United States and prove that its controversial nuclear programme is not a threat. So far "there has not been a positive commitment" from Iran, Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a meeting with the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
She said Iran had to prove that it would adhere to the principles laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency about the peaceful intentions of its nuclear programme.
The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran for failing to comply with demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process the West believes Tehran is hoping to use to build nuclear weapons.
The US and the EU have offered to help Iran out of its isolation if it cooperates.
"We don't want to see Iran attacked, but at the same time we don't want to see Iran in possession of a nuclear bomb," Sheikh Mohammed said through an interpreter.
The UAE leader and Merkel said their two countries hoped to increase cooperation in the economic as well as the construction sectors.
Merkel said development of renewable energy was one field where Germany could help. Another was the building of airports and improving transport infrastructure.
Sheikh Mohammed, who arrived in Germany on Wednesday, attended a meeting of the German-Emirates economic forum on Wednesday evening, where business ventures and airline landing rights were discussed.
Following his political talks Thursday, Sheikh Mohammed was due to visit the Museum of Islamic Art before travelling to Berlin's Free University to receive an award.
At the ceremony, he was to be presented with the university's gold medal of honour in recognition of his services for the promotion of education and science in the Emirates and the rest of the Arab world.
The United Arab Emirates has become Germany's most important markets in the Gulf region, with annual exports amounting to nearly 6 billion euros (8.7 billion dollars).
