Iran urges Italy to restore its position as largest trade partner

/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Iran has urged Italy to restore its role as the Islamic Republic’s largest economic partner in the European Union.

Such a call was made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on April 12 during a joint press conference with Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who is on a visit to the Islamic Republic.

"Italy used to be Iran's largest economic partner in the EU before sanctions were imposed [on Tehran] and we want Italy to restore its previous role," Rouhani said, IRINN news channel reported.

Italy was one of Iran's major economic and trade partners before the international nuclear-related sanctions were imposed on Iran. Then, the trade turnover amounted to 7 billion euros, while this figure stands at 1.6 billion euros now.

Rouhani further said that he and Renzi discussed the ways to foster economic and trade cooperation in the post-sanctions era, activity of Italian investors and companies in Iran, fighting terrorism, regional issues and tourism.

Speaking about the financial ties between the two countries, President Rouhani called for removing obstacles to the expansion of trade ties. He said proper measures have been taken to strengthen banking ties between the sides, but the parties still need to solve some issues.

"Although the sanctions on Iran's banking system have been lifted, there are still some psychological impacts that should be removed," he noted.

Renzi, who heads a 250-member political and economic delegation, embarked on a visit to Iran on April 12.

During Renzi's visit, the two countries signed seven documents on cooperation in a number of sector including, industry and renewable energy, railway, gas, development of Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, car industry.

So far, Iran and Italy have agreed on a total of 37 deals as 30 documents were signed in Rome in January during President Rouhani's visit to Italy. Then, the two countries signed deals worth up to 17 billion euros.

During his January visit, Rouhani headed a high-ranking delegation of business leaders and ministers, signing a pipeline contract worth between $4 billion and $5 billion for oil services group Saipem.

Since the nuclear deal between Iran and Group P5+1, Italy has been trying to turn into Iran's first trade partner in Europe and in this connection several Italian ministers as well as trade and government delegations have visited Iran.

Both countries believe that there are many sectors where the two countries may cooperate. This includes energy and health fields. Also, there are plenty of opportunities in Iran for Italian small and medium sized companies.