His Excellency Dr. Alireza Jahangiri, Ambassador of Iran to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
By Roy Lie Atjam.
Wassenaar 9 February 2018, H.E. Ambassador Alireza Jahangiri of Iran had invited colleagues, dignitaries and many others to join him in celebrating Iran’s 39th National Day. A hundreds-strong crowd thronged the reception venue to honor Dr Alirzea Jahangiri’s invitation.
Noteworthy was the presence of a former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Laurence Jan Brinkhorst.
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Ambassador Jahangiri referred to the close cooperation between the Netherlands and Iran.The trade value has nearly tripled over the past two years.
Jahangiri went on, both countries signed a joint plan of action on expansion of bilateral economic ties for 2018, which entails cooperation in many fields such as energy, water management, agriculture, shipping, banking and technology.
Dr Alirzea Jahangiri’s full speech follows hereby.
“It is my sincere pleasure and honor to welcome you all to our National Day Celebration, to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the glorious revolution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
At the last year’s reception, as you probably remember, I announced that the Year 2017 is the year of landmark elections in Europe (including the Netherlands) and in my country. In May 2017, 73 percent of Iranians participated in the presidential election, in which, by reelecting Dr. Rouhani, they reaffirmed the continuation of moderation and broad-based interaction with all States of the world.
In line with this approach, Iran has fully implemented its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA over the last two years since the Implementation Day, which has been hailed by the international community. The nuclear deal is a rare triumph of diplomacy over confrontation. Undermining of this deal would be a mistake.
For this reason, the European Union including the Netherlands has explicitly announced, on several occasions, its commitment to continue the full and effective implementation of all parts of the JCPOA. The EU has also underlined that the lifting of nuclear related sanctions has a positive impact on trade and economic relations with Iran.
Despite limitation in banking relations between EU and Iran, the statistics indicate that Iran-EU trade in 2017 has been increased by more than 62 percent compared to 2016. Significant growth in trade between Iran and the Netherlands during the last two years shows that the trade value in such a period of time has been nearly tripled. This is a brilliant sign of close cooperation of our two countries.
Both countries signed a joint plan of action on expansion of bilateral economic ties for 2018, which entails cooperation in many fields such as energy, water management, agriculture, shipping, banking and technology.
I would like to point out that on the basis of our joint cooperation, we have all the reasons to look positively into the future when it comes to bilateral relations. Despite major challenges that the world is facing and the continuation of the unrest, conflict and terrorism in the Middle East, Iran as an important player in the West Asia region and the Netherlands as the member of the UN Security Council in 2018, can join their forces for realization of peace and security in the world.
Before concluding, I would like to thank all the staff of the Embassy and their families who have worked very hard to make today’s event a successful one.
At the end, I would like to announce a good news for music and art lovers. This year, in addition to the beautiful Iranian carpets exhibition, we have an exhibition of Persian Miniature paintings, which are the most outstanding paintings in the Middle East.
The creator of these artworks is Mr. Machiani, who is present here this evening. I recommend you to visit this exhibition before you leave. Mr. Machiani is also a musician. He has kindly accepted to perform some pieces of Iranian music today.
I hope you would enjoy the combination of spiritual art (music and miniature) and afterwards the material art, which is the delicious Iranian cuisine.”
It has been an evening full of Iranian hospitality.
