TEHRAN -- Deputy Energy Minister for Water Affairs Reza Ardekanian said here Monday that Iran and Netherlands have recently signed an agreement for cooperation in water affairs and irrigation systems.

He added that the agreement stipulates for the two countries to cooperate in alternative irrigation systems, flood-warning systems, environmental impacts of dams, drought management, development of water engineering software, and manpower education and training.

In the short run, he added, Iran and Netherlands will cooperate in two projects in Homan-Hirmand area in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and Orumiyeh Lake in West Azarbaijan Province.

The two fields are important from national and international aspects such that the life of the Sistan-Baluchestan Province depends on the Homan-Hirmand area.

The agreement, which was signed between Ardekanian and the Dutch Deputy agricultural minister, provides for arranging the first vocational workshop on the topics of long-term cooperation to begin this summer and the first joint Iran-Netherlands water commission in December.

Earlier in December, visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias Van Aartsen and his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi discussed promotion of ties between Tehran and Amsterdam, IRNA reported.

Aartsen also stressed the eagerness of Holland and other European union members to consolidate relations with Iran. He called for the promotion of bilateral ties, especially in the economic sector, between Tehran and Amsterdam.

Kharrazi, for his part, said that promotion of relations between Iran and the Netherlands in various fields, especially in the economic sphere, is in line with their national interests.