TEHRAN Nov. 25 (Shana) � Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands said Iran is poised to become a major energy supplier in the 21 century in the world, saying good relations with the country must be maintained.

"I think Iran will be a major supplier in the 21st century for oil and gas not only for the region but for the whole world," said Henk Kamp, adding that "it is important for Iran to have good relations with other countries in the world and it's important for other countries to have good relations with Iran. "

Speaking with Shana on the sidelines of a meeting with Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh in Tehran, Kamp said the Netherlands has had good relations with Iran for 390 years, and "we are happy that the future can be better because of the [nuclear] agreement of Iran with world powers. There will be good relations between the countries. "

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries struck a landmark deal in the Austrian city of Vienna in July which will remove US-engineered sanctions on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the latter to curb its nuclear activities. The West fears Iran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb in its activities.
Netherlands is a gas exporting country while being a distributing gas hub. The gas from Russia and Norway comes to Netherlands' Rotterdam Port for distribution throughout Europe.

"We have the biggest port in Europe in Rotterdam and there is a lot of oil and gas storage in the port," he added. "I think that in the future gas, LNG and oil from Iran will go to Rotterdam and we will distribute it over Europe. "
Kamp arrived in Tehran yesterday at the head of a large Dutch trade delegation to investigate new business opportunities in post-sanctions Iran.

Over 60 large Dutch companies active in the energy and agriculture sectors are accompanying Kamp in his trip.

Iran produces a lot of gas at the moment but mainly for their own people. "Nearly 95% of gas production in Iran is used for Iran itself. This is very good, because they have their own gas and they use it for their own people but they want to produce more and make it liquefied and sell it to other parts of the world also to Europe. We are interested in restoring our good relations with the country," he added.

"There is a lot we can do in Iran because they have to modernize the industry, there is a lot of knowhow here in the country, so I think there is a lot of knowhow in the Netherlands too. I think Iranian companies and Dutch companies can cooperate together very well. They have a lot of expertise in the gas and oil industry and, as I said, we want to use that expertise for good cooperation with your country."

By SHANA