Dutch Envoy: World Suffers Immensely From Banking Sanctions On Iran

Tehran, Nov 6, IRNA – The Netherlands Ambassador to Tehran Jos Douma said on Tuesday that the entire international community is suffering a lot from the banking sanctions on Iran, citing the difficulty the Netherlands have been exposed to as Iranian trade partner. Economic sanctions are regarded serious barriers for trade and exchange of goods, he said. On the diplomatic campaign of President Hassan Rouhani against the western governments to lift the arbitrary sanctions, he said that the new president has been successful in his outreach to the west in the past 100 days since taking office. ˈOf course, we must wait and see the outcome.ˈ The ambassador said that there is no doubt that resolving nuclear dispute will help lift the sanctions. The ambassador hailed success of Iranian nuclear talks with representatives of Group 5+1 held in Geneva on October 15-16 as well as the talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency held in Vienna on October 28. In the coming days we are now expecting new phase of talks between Iran and G5+1 in Geneva which are very vital, he said, in reference to the scheduled negotiations on November 7-8. Economic sanctions are a big hurdle preventing expansion of economic cooperation between Iran and the Netherlands, he underlined. Iran has one of the biggest oil and gas reserve in the world and can increase its share in the Netherlands market, he said. Royal/Dutch Shell has always being regarded as one of the prominent business partner for Iranian oil industry, he said. He said that the Netherlands is keen on broadening economic cooperation with Iran. On the humanitarian plight in Syria, he said that the Islamic Republic of Iran plays a leading role to help end the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria and bring the warring parties to the negotiating table. The ambassador said that Iranian presence in the Geneva 2 Conference on Syria is crucial in light of Iranian active role in restoring regional peace and security./end