Netherlands minds to join INSTEX: Dutch gov't

Tehran, June 7, IRNA - The Dutch government announced that it plans to join the financial mechanism of Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) to do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Dutch government, in response to the Parliament questions about EU measures to counter US sanctions against Iran, wrote a letter to the leaders of the country's legislative body on Wednesday, June 5, noting its support of the INSTEX, announced its plan to invest and join this European financial mechanism. In response to a question about how “The Blocking Statute " function was revived by the EU to counter US sanctions, Dutch foreign and foreign trade ministers emphasized that the union regards the US sanctions 'illegal' and is not to officially recognize it. The members of the Dutch cabinet, referring to trading exchange system known as INSTEX, also said that the Netherlands has always expressed its support for the INSTEX and has announced its readiness to become a shareholder. Dutch government officials added, "Before the Netherlands could become a shareholder in the system, the INSTEX should be well developed as the final decision will be time consuming. The Dutch government, while expressing its opposition to the extraterritorial and unilateral effect of US sanctions that violates international law, emphasized that Amsterdam, follows the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and is to expand volume of trade exchange with Tehran which already reached € 1.06 billion in 2017 in compare to the corresponding period in 2014 standing at € 376 million. Consequently, despite the decline in volume of trade exchange between the Netherlands and the Islamic Republic of Iran after the declaration of US unilateral sanctions, there are still large and small-sized Dutch enterprises active in Iran, and the volume of Dutch exports to Iran, despite of experiencing decline in 2018, amounted to Euro 718 million.