Officials from the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran concluded the seventh round of negotiations on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) in Brussels Wednesday evening expressing optimism on the future course of the talks.

"I think what we should note is that we have made constructive progress,'' Christian Leffler, Director of the European Commission's Middle East and South Mediterranean Department, told IRNA after the end of the 2-day meeting.

"We have been able to by now present and review almost all foreseen areas of trade and cooperation to be covered by the agreement,'' said Leffler who led the Commission team to the negotiations.

The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, is conducting the TCA negotiations with Tehran on behalf of the 25-member European bloc.

"We have had useful exchanges preparing the ground for substantive and textual negotiations still ahead of us. We look forward to taking that agenda forward in future rounds,'' said Leffler.

"We very much hope that the overall political context in which these negotiations are taking place will indeed allow us to continue us to do so,'' he added.

On his part, Kia Tabatabie, head of the Iranian delegation voiced his satisfaction over the outcome of the talks.

"We feel quite satisfied with the results of this round of negotiations,'' Tabatabie, Director General for Economy at Iran's foreign ministry, told IRNA.

"We have covered a lot of grounds, important grounds. We are getting to a point where agreements are being surfaced in different areas." " We are certainly optimistic that the pace of these negotiations could be continued in future and we are looking forward to having the Commission delegation in Tehran soon for the continuation of the negotiations,'' Tabatabie added.

The next round of TCA negotiations and the political dialogue is expected to take place in Tehran in two months time.

EU and Iran concluded the sixth round of political dialogue in Brussels Tuesday evening on a ''positive and determined'' note.

The one-day meeting covered various issues including political cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the 25-member European bloc.

Ebrahim Rahimpour, Director General for Western Europe at the Iranian foreign ministry, led his country's delegation to the political negotiations.

Luxembourg ambassador, Paul Mertz, headed the EU side which included officials from the EU Council, Commission and Member States.

Luxembourg currently holds the EU Presidency.

TCA negotiations linked to a political dialogue were launched in Brussels in December 2002 to put the EU-Iran cooperation in a contractual framework.

The negotiations were put on hold in June 2003 due to EU concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

They were resumed last December following an agreement with Iran and the EU troika of Germany, France, and Britain over Tehran's voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment activities.

The political dialogue revolves around human rights, regional security in the Middle East, fight against terrorism, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.