TEHRAN - Visiting Deputy Head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Viskil and Head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Ali-Naqi khamoushi here on Saturday explored ways of expanding bilateral industrial and agricultural cooperation. Viskil hoped that his talks with Iranian officials on cooperation between Iran and his country in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island regions would produce positive results.

Khamoushi said that Iran and the Netherlands can have extensive cooperation in animal husbandry and agricultural processing industries. He said that exchange of information between the two sides would serve to expand mutual cooperation, considering Iran's rich oil and gas reserves as well as its chemical substances and traditional goods. He stressed the need to strengthen the small and medium-sized industries of the two countries by granting them necessary credits.

Meanwhile, Deputy Head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce Entezari said that so far Iranian goods have been transported to Europe via the German Port of Hamburg but from now on they can be transferred to destinations in Europe via the Port of Rotterdam. He called for inauguration of branches of foreign banks in the free trade zones and opening of commercial offices within and outside Iran. He put volume of commercial transactions between Iran and the Netherlands in 1996 at $9,042.4 million and said that European countries are Iran's major trade partners.

He said that Iran's imports from and exports to Germany in the said year constituted more than 13.8 percent and 18.3 percent of its total imports and exports respectively. (IRNA)