Amsterdam  - Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende congratulated Barack Obama on Wednesday with his victory in Tuesday's US presidential elections.

The Dutch prime minister sent a letter to the US president-elect, wishing him success.

In a statement released by the Dutch government communication service RVD, Balkenende further said "it was beautiful to see this election has moved millions of people, both in the US as well as abroad."

Referring, among others, to the global credit crisis, Balkenende said Obama's presidential term will be "challenging" and noted that the need for "intensive trans-Atlantic co-operation" was "never more urgent" than today.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the Dutch and the US should particularly cooperate on issues concerning the climate, the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Verhagen stressed the need for what he called "a more coordinated policy" in Afghanistan and also expressed the hope the US might change its position on a number of fundamental international issues.

The Dutch foreign minister said Obama's election might increase the chances the US would join the International Criminal Court in The Hague and close down the internationally controversial US prison on Guantanamo Bay on Cuba. (dpa)