ROMANIA SEEKS LONG-TERM TRADE TIES WITH IRAN.

TEHRAN, May 1 Asia Pulse - Visiting Romanian Deputy Minister for Industry and Resources, Mihai Berinde, said that his government was eager to establish long-term bilateral trade cooperation with Iran, according to the Tuesday edition of the English-language newspaper `Iran Daily'.

"I have come here on a very important economic mission and I am more optimistic now. We have very good economic relations with Iran," Berinde told Iran Daily in an exclusive interview.

Heading a high-level economic delegation made up of Romania's top 20 trade moguls, Berinde said that Bucharest was not only seeking two-way commercial ties, but was also trying to set up joint projects in the context of medium- and long-term cooperation with Tehran.

"Romania has a very good experience in the energy sector and we are willing to cooperate with Iranian companies and build electrical power plants in Iran," he added.

The Romanian deputy minister also said that his country is willing to transfer technology to the Iranian side. "We are also keen on resuming our traditional cooperation with Iran in tractor manufacturing but we would like to do the business together and not only export tractors to Iran," he said.

He added that Romania's priority in bilateral economic relations with Iran is to develop transport cooperation.

On his government's plans to join the European Union, he said, "Our main foreign policy objective is to integrate Romania into the European Union structures. We have made very important progress in this regard and opened many chapters of negotiation with the European Union. We are planning to complete the negotiations by 2005 and our objective is ...