Tehran, Oct 26, IRNA -- Belgian Deputy Foreign Minister Mrs. Annemie Neyts said on Saturday establishment of a full Iran-EU ties may need several years to get realized.

Speaking at the end of a panel discussion on Iran-EU ties, Neyts said inking of such broadbased ambitious agreement between Iran and EU would not be achieved within a short period of time.

Iran and EU have to know each other well prior to get involved in an active trade relationship and this needs many years to be achieved.

She said some way should be found for removing the misunderstandings between the two sides since the European Union is by no means after putting pressures on Iran.

A firm will from both sides would help remove the misunderstandings, she said noting that inking a comprehensive trade agreement with Egypt has taken seven years.

She said the EU set a condition on the respect for the human rights for those countries which are after enjoying a good relation with it.

This does not mean that the EU ignores the progress in the human rights issues in other countries.

As for the Middle east conflict, she said the EU and Belgium are of the opinion that the Mideast crisis should be solved through diplomatic channels and not through military actions.

She said any agreement or intervention should consider the United Nations resolutions on the Middle East, adding the Mideast negotiations would not bear fruit if the United States fail to push for efforts to find out a solution.

The EU is Iran's main trading partner. In 2001, EU imports from Iran totalled more than 6.5 billion euro, whereas the value of EU exports to Iran in the same year amounted to more than 7 billion euro.

More than 80 percent of EU imports from Iran consist of energy (mainly oil products), representing 3.8 percent of total EU imports of energy.

The exports to Iran are more diversified with power generation plants, large machinery, and electrical and mechanical appliances topping the list and placed at about 45 percent of total exports.

In 2001, EU imported from Iran 436 million euro of agricultural products, 5.5 billion euro of energy, 23 million euro of machinery, 64 million euro of transport material, 59 million euro of chemical products and 288 million euro of textiles and clothing.

EU exports to Iran last year consisted of 110 million euro of agricultural products, 9 million euro of energy, 3 billion euro of machinery, 841 million euro of transport material, 938 million euro of chemical products and 42 million euro of textiles and clothing.

Iran is 31st in the rank of EU importers and 33rd in EU exporters. The share of EU total imports from Iran in 2001 was 0.7 percent and exports to Iran 0.7 percent.

On June 17, 2002, the EU Council reached a political agreement on negotiating directives for a Trade and Cooperation Agreement with Iran.