TEHRAN- Referring to the large number of Iranian businessmen active in the Netherlands, the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a Thursday meeting with Dutch Economy Minister Henk Kamp, underscored that facilitation of mutual banking relations can help accelerate development of trade ties between the two countries.

As IRNA reported, the Iranian foreign minister noted that important measures have been implemented to boost economic cooperation between Tehran and Amsterdam.

During the meeting, the two high ranking officials negotiated on further consultations between the two countries’ senior banking officials as well as ways for expansion of joint cooperation in future.

In mid-April, Dutch Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Martin Van den Berg and the president of the Organization for Investment, Economic, and Technical Assistance of Iran, Mohammad Khazaei signed 10 agreements in various economic fields in a meeting in Tehran.

The signed contracts seek to improve future bilateral cooperation in energy, finance, banking and insurance, as well as transportation, health and water management besides finalizing economic agreements and exchanging experiences and data in different fields.

Reviewing the latest situation for economic cooperation in the joint meeting, Van den Berg referred to the existing investment opportunities and capacities in Iran and underlined expansion of bilateral cooperation.

Trade between the two countries stood at $650 million in the past Iranian calendar year of 1394 (ended on March 19, 2016), with Iran’s imports from the European country of more than $600 million.

HJ/MA