An informed source at Foreign Ministry on 8 September dismissed as `sheer lie' the claim that Iranian planes have violated Azeri air space. The source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the flight of Iranian planes over the Caspian sea is for mere surveillance according to the legal regime based on 1921 and 1940 Iran-Russia protocols. According to the source, as in the past, the flights are regular and the `new and irresponsible' claims by certain Azeri officials are `astonishing'. Azeri Defense Minister had in an interview at the end of his visit to Moscow on Friday claimed that Iranian military planes had, on and off, violated Azeri air space. (IRNA) IRANIAN FM WINDS UP CENTRAL ASIAN TOUR, RETURNS HOME 8 September Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi wound up his four-day Central Asian tour which took him to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and returned home on 7 September evening. Expansion of bilateral economic cooperation, establishment of regional security, settlement of Afghan crisis and anti-drug campaign were among major topics discussed by the Iranian foreign minister and senior officials of the three Central Asian states. Kharrazi arrived in Dushanbe after a two-day visit to Uzbekistan where he and his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov called for a more serious international approach to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. The Iranian foreign minister and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmanov echoed previous calls that negotiations between the warring factions are the only solution to the ongoing conflict in neighboring Afghanistan. Earlier, Kharrazi and Uzbek President Islam Karimov on 6 September called for further expansion of economic and political cooperation between the two countries. Kharrazi and Uzbek Prime Minister and Minister of Macro economy and Statistics Rostam Azimev explored new ways of boosting Iran-Uzbekistan bilateral ties particularly in the economic field. The Uzbek premier called for cooperation with Iran in building factories to produce pharmaceuticals, construction materials and textiles in his country. (IRNA) UZBEKS TO HAVE SPECIAL BAZAAR IN MOSCOW 8 September Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov promised his Uzbek hosts in Tashkent on 8 September that he will open a special Uzbek bazaar in Moscow. Luzhkov said that his visit went well but acknowledged that he had lost a tennis match to Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Luzhkov noted that it was "not a political or diplomatic loss." (Interfax-Moscow)