TERHAN - The second joint consular commission of Iran and Norway was held on Tuesday morning with the consular directors-general of the two countries presiding over the session.

The meeting was held after a seven-year hiatus. 

At the meeting that was held in a constructive atmosphere and one of understanding, important consular issues between Iran and Norway including visa issuance, looking into the problems of students, academic cooperation, transit drivers, illegal refugees and their return to the country and also joint cooperation in humanitarian activities as well as judicial cooperation were discussed, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

The meeting came against a backdrop of accelerated de-escalation between Iran and Europe. In recent months, Iran released European prisoners and Belgium released Iranian diplomat Assadullah Assadi. 

Bernard Phelan, a French-Irish citizen who was detained and sentenced to 6.5 years in jail for transmitting security intelligence during the height of the upheaval in Iran, has been released on humanitarian grounds. Phelan, a Paris-based travel consultant, was detained in October and was held in a prison in Mashhad, northeastern Iran and was released in May. 

Reportedly, Iranian and European officials have also met recently in the Qatari capital Doha to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest.