“Businessmen and People of the Netherlands Headed to Iran,” Says Ambassador of the Netherlands.

An EU member, the Netherlands is one of the largest producers of natural gas and agricultural products in the green continent. Following the lifting of sanctions against Iran, ways are paved for investments to saunter from various countries, and in this, the Netherlands and Iran can cooperate in many sections such as natural gas, electronic appliances and agricultural bringing economic ties to optimum fruition. To learn more of the existing potentials for developing economic and political ties, we conducted an interview with Ms. Susanna Terstal, the ambassador of the Netherlands to Tehran which you can read in full below.

AVA Diplomatic’s Exclusive Interview with

the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Iran, Ms. Susanna Terstal

Interview by Mohammadreza Nazari

A lady ambassador is always interesting for the audience. Men usually pay attention to generalities while women take care of details too. I would like to know where and how you have started your political career and where you have studied. Let’s get to know you more.

I started studying law in the Netherlands but I thought law alone was too boring, so I went to the U.S to study there. I did two masters there; one in political science and one in international relations. Then I started working in the business world for Apple Computer. I worked for Apple Computer first in Belgium and then in the Netherland for the European Department. Oh. I forgot to say that before working for Apple I went to Italy and I studied at European University Institute.

Did you study law in Italy?

Yes, I studied in the law department.

Therefore, you were actually eager to be a lawyer.

Not only law. I liked to combine law with politics and international relations. It’s actually a very good background for diplomats. At first I wanted to work in the business world because as a diplomat you represent and work with  businesses as well. It’s important to have a good sense for business.

Being in Apple was practically a good experience. Then what happened that you went to European Union in Geneva?

After Apple I joined the ministry of foreign affairs and I worked mainly in the legal department. And then in 2008, I was offered the post of deputy permanent representative at the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands in Geneva. It’s actually the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations. Before I went to Geneva when I worked in the legal department, I woked also for the European Law Section. I was an agent of the government at the court of justice in Luxembourg as a lawyer of the Dutch government.

Were you focusing on human rights issues there?

Not really. When I was in Geneva, I was working also in the fields of human rights. It was the humanitarian field, the health field and the human rights field. My works was not specifically human rights.

Until what year were you there? And where did you go next?

I was there from 2008 to 2012. After Geneva I went to Angola. That was my first ambassadorship. That was from 2012 to 2015. Last year in August, half a year ago, I came to Iran.

Why were you appointed to Angola?

You have to ask the ministry. The interesting point for me to come here from Angola is that in Angola I learned a lot about the energy market as Angola is also an oil producing country.

Then you were sent to Iran. I would like to know your ambassadorship top priorities in Iran.

Well, of course it was very interesting to see what would happen to the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) because it had been concluded but we have not had implementation day. So I started building up an economic network because in the previous years we did not do a lot of economic activities due to sanctions. My minister of foreign affairs and the minister of economic affairs with a business delegations came to Iran. So we had a lot of visitors which is also lots of work for the embassy. At the moment we are also representing the E.U because they don’t have their own embassy here. So we accompany the visitors from European Union and we chair all the EU meetings.

Is that because the Netherlands is the President of the European Council at the moment?

Yeah. This presidency lasts until the first of July and before it was Luxembourg. Because Luxembourg does not have an embassy here, we do it for them.

I would like to ask you about banking cooperation between Iran and European countries. How is the banking relation between Iran and the Netherlands now? And also explain about the LC opening please.

It was quite interesting that couple of weeks ago, we had our deputy foreign minister here. She brought with her a delegation from banking communities including the ministry of finance, the Dutch central bank, the organization of Dutch private banks and one of the private banks. In 2008, in the western world the financial and economic crisis started and because of that a lot of our national laws and also international laws and treaties changed. So the regulations became much stricter; also for our banks. Due to sanctions, the Iranian banks were not connected to the new developments. For banking cooperation between Iran and Europe, new regulations should be adopted. Everybody here in the country is working hard on that in order to make sure that we can work together. We have to speak the same language. The Dutch banking system and government are looking for how we can cooperate to do this as quickly as possible.

Do you believe that the structure on Iranian banking system does not allow it to be connected to the Dutch banking system? Don’t you believe that it was the sanctions that made European countries and their banking systems worried for the relations?

I don’t talk about the organization of Iranian banks because it isn’t about the organization. It has to do with laws on money laundering and financing of terrorism. Another recent development is that the regulations on  knowing your customer are much stricter.  Knowing customer means that you do not only know your clients but that you really know everybody who the bank is dealing with.

What horizons do you see for the banking relations? How long does it take for Iranian banking system to join with its Dutch counterpart?

It is difficult to say how long it will take but as a Dutch government we announce that we want to work with Iranian banks because everybody is interested to resolve the difficulties as quickly as possible. It’s very hard to put a deadline on something that you don’t know yet. Now we are in the face of together identifying what we have to do and make a road map.

Shall we see the activation of Visa Card or Master Card in Iran?

Those are American companies. . I cannot say anything about those credit cards because they belong to American companies. I can only talk about the Dutch banks. What we are looking at first is the simple transfer of money which is not the hardest to solve. If businesses want to come here, it’s very important that the banks can help with investments here. Companies should be able to invest and get loans and get insured as well. There are actually three topics; transfer of money, investment and insurance.

The Netherlands is one the biggest natural gas producing country in Europe. What negotiations have been conducted to transfer Iran’s gas to Europe through the Netherlands?

The Netherlands is a gas producing country since the 50s and at the moment we also import gas. What is important in the Netherlands is that we created a gas network. When our minister for economic affairs who is also responsible for energy came here, he was with a big delegation of 60 businesses most of which was for oil and gas. The delegation visited the national Iranian gas company and there we held discussions on the cooperation in the field of gas. The interesting point is that we have facility to transport gas to Europe because of that gas network.

The Netherlands is eager to use this corridor? The Netherlands’ former energy ministers had made some statement about it. I would like to know if there exists an action plan for it or is it just at the level of feasibility studies?

It’s something that we could do and we have to talk about it. My minister for economic affairs who is also responsible for energy is coming back to Iran in early May.

You have visited Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI). What agreements have been reached there? What do you think of there? Were the researchs conducted there useful or not?

I’m very impressed with everything there. What we actually talked about was the cooperation between our knowledge institutions with yours. Our most prominent in this area is TUDelft, Delft University of Technology and TNO.

One of the Netherlands’ economic basis is farming. Are there any cooperation plans between the two countries in this context?

Of course businesses are talking together. In fact we will have a delegation for agricultural coming in early May with the Minister for Economic Affairs.  This will be a very good opportunity for the Dutch and Iranian companies to talk together. And I know that the husbandry sector in Iran is already working together with our husbandry sector.

Shipbuilding is one of the main industries in the Netherlands. Regarding the volume of activity, Rotterdam is the Europe’s largest port. Have any agreements been made between the two countries for optimization and the development of Iranian ports and the process of shipbuilding?

At the moment there are not concrete discussions that we are aware off. In the delegation that accompanied the minister, we had people from port development and shipbuilding companies. They had a lot of important contacts here with the Iranian authorities.

There were just some discussions not specific plans.

If this comes to contract, they would be very big contracts. For instance, not talking about ship building, if you look at the airports, there is a Dutch company that already had a contract with your company. So I think the things are on the way, some contracts have been signed and others are under negotiations. The company that I was talking about, NACO, is for infrastructures of the airports. If you look at traveling, Air France started flying in in April and the KLM will hopefully start coming to Iran later this year.

The Netherlands is an advanced country in electronic equipment. Are there any plans to invest for this case in Iran?

It’s not the government to cooperate but companies. It’s always up to the companies for business strategy with a certain country. Philips is a very large company and one of its major activities is actually in the health sector. I know that they are looking into Iran as one of the countries for their business. They work together with hospitals and research labs. And this is one the big things for Philips. For the Dutch government there are three sectors that we are looking for cooperation with Iran; one is energy sector that we talked about, the second is agriculture which is the brother husbandry and. The Netherlands is the second agricultural producing country in the world. We can do that because we are extremely efficient in our agricultural industry. So, what we are looking at is cooperation with Iran.  Water is the third topic. We are looking at the triangle of government, business and knowledge institutions. For instance the University of Wageningen which is on the best in their fields was here a couple of weeks ago for the mission in water sector. Wageningen is a very famous agricultural university. Many people in our ministry of agriculture have studied in the Netherlands. Next month in early April our minister for external economic cooperation will come to Iran with a specific mission in water sector. Part of this delegation will be a mission from the Health sector.

What is the biggest barrier of the Dutch businessmen against expanding of their relations with Iran?

First they have to come here and find partners. We are not really talking about barriers. We are talking about opportunities.

When there are barriers, first some steps should be taken to remove them and make opportunities out of threats.

That’s why we are working with the banking sector. That is one of the barriers at the moment because if you cannot pay your bills, that would be problematic. For the cooperation between the Dutch and the Iranian companies, you need banks, like what they did in the past. Another barrier that should be taken into account is still sanctions. The lifted sanctions are related to the nuclear programs but there are still some European and American sanctions. The Netherlands is an important player in the global economy. The Dutch government gives information to the Dutch companies as much as possible and helps them understand what they can and what they cannot do.

David Cameron, the British prime minster, wrote a letter to Barclays Bank of England and asked them to continue their banking relations with Iran according to the regulations of EU. Interestingly the Barclays Bank replied that US has retained its “primary sanctions” and the bank has operations there, so it is “required to continue to restrict business activity with Iran”. How is the situation for Dutch Banks?

We cooperate according to our own legislations. Our people in our central bank have been talking to the people in Iranian central bank in a very pragmatic way to see how we can resolve all the difficulties. We can make problems and we can find solutions. I think both the Netherlands and Iran are looking for solutions. It has a lot to with the way that EU works. There is the government which is the commission. There is the council of ministers. And there is a parliament within Europe. So they make the legislations. It is not something that just the Netherlands does. What we do is chairing all the meetings and setting agenda.

One of the issues that the Netherlands pursues is Syria.

As a result of the Syrian crisis, a lot of immigrants came to Europe.

Many Dutch businessmen even ordinary people are worried that by travelling to Iran they will be put in the US black list and practically they will have some problems for going to the US. I would like you to say that they won’t face problems by coming to Iran.

How can I say that?!! I cannot say anything about how the American government will react. I cannot tell other people what to do. Instead I can tell you something interesting for your readers. Here during the past few months especially after the implementation day, our embassy is growing. Now we have our economic advisor, we get more people in the office to help strengthening the business and economic ties and also the ties between the two countries. We have ministers and high level delegations coming in. our embassy and also your embassy in the Netherlands are doing their utmost to make sure that the two countries and our citizens and our businesses can work and flourish together. I have a very good relationship with your ambassador in the Netherlands. My last point, the Dutch big newspaper have told its readers the Iran is in the top ten of the best tourist destination for the coming year. So we expect a lot of Dutch visitors to visit your beautiful country.

Have you had time to visit Iran?

I travel whenever I can. I have already travelled to Isfahan four times. I have been to Shiraz, Persepolis, Yazd and the Caspian Sea. Next time I hope to visit Kerman. I want to travel your country as much as possible.

What is your most memorable remembrance from those trips?

What I fined amazing is how friendly Iranians are to foreigners and how they enjoy talking to visitors. I remember I was in Yazd with an Iranian Family. We were in a small coffee shop; they all came in to be in the photo. That picture was very memorable.

I think you had brought your mother to Iran with you.

Yes, my mother was here and also my sister and my brother-in-law. My friends were also here.

I would like to end the interview by mentioning the viewpoints of those people. What was interesting for your family when they came to Iran?

They left Iran with good memories and they said Iran is different from what they had imagined.