German FM calls for closer mutual cooperation with Tehran

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle underlined the close and friendly relations between Tehran and Berlin, and called for further enhancement of mutual cooperation between the two countries, IRNA reported.

The German foreign minister made the remarks in his yearly meeting with the foreign correspondents residing in Germany in the capital city on Wednesday.

'We call on Tehran to create an opportunity through its cooperation in order to jointly achieve real progress in this respect,' Westerwelle said.

Germany is an important trade partner of Iran. Berlin has long been ignoring the US-led sanctions against Iran.

Earlier reports said that the volume of the bilateral trade exchanges between Iran and Germany is on the rise despite the US-led western sanctions on Iran, adding that the volume of trade transactions between the two countries is getting close to the eye-catching figure of 4bln euros for 2012.

Germany is on the course to increase its bilateral trade volume with Iran to 4bln euros for 2012, the Jerusalem Post reported late October.

The volume of trade transactions between the two countries also reached 4 bln. euros in 2011, it said, noting that the new sanctions have not affected Iranˈs economy.

The German banking system has also reportedly ignored the US-led western sanctions against Iran several times thus far, it said.

The daily said that the German foreign ministry had green-lighted a 1.5 billion-euro oil payment from India to Tehran via the Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH).

The flourishing trade transactions between Iran and Germany have frustrated Israeli, American, British and French officials, the newspaper said.