TEHRAN, February 21 - Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag said the necessity of weapons program for Iran for defense purposes is legitimate.
TEHRAN,Young Journalists Club (YJC) - “We regard as legitimate Iran’s need to weapons program to defend itself and we recognize it,” Kaag said in a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani here in Tehran on Wednesday.
“The EU and the Netherlands as part of the EU are resolute to expand bilateral ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all fields,” she said.
Dutch companies are set for more active participation in going ahead with Iran’s plans in new technologies, agriculture and saving energy.”
Dutch government is encouraging companies to expand interactions with Iran, she said.
Rouhani, for his part, called for boosting the volume of commercial exchanges between the two countries to above 1 billion euros.
“Iran supports presence of Dutch companies in going ahead with plans on energy, environment, agriculture, transportation, saving energy and tourism.”
He also rejected as ‘baseless’ allegations that Iran is sending missiles to Yemen, saying that posing such allegations would fail to sort out problems.
Rouhani added that instead of laying the blame on others, efforts should focus on ending war in Yemen as soon as possible, establishing ceasefire, sending human aid to Yemenis and paving the way for Yemeni-Yemeni talks.
He said Iran is ready for talks with its friends in the EU to boost security and stability in the region and continue fighting terrorism.