Federica Guidi and Mohsen Jalalpour, Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, met on Wednesday to discuss Iran and Italy’s possible economic ties improvement.
Jalalpour told the meeting that in the post-deal era, new conditions had hit Iranian economy, which provided great opportunities for Italy as Iran’s first trade partner; “Iran’s economy hinges upon oil income, with recent surge to privatize the larger part of itself; with long history of cultural and economic relations with Italy, now Iranian economic activists are willing to attract Italian investments in domestic projects,” he said, encouraging Italy to grasp the opportunity hence created to find strong footholds to secure ever-increasing presence in Iranian markets.
Federica Guidi for her part, said that the legacy of cultural relations would provide a base for improved economic ties; “Vienna deal created a new situation and Italian delegation visit to Iran demonstrates well their keenness to boost economic cooperation with Iran, especially in small and large-scale industries, which should be soon in its normal path forward,” she told the meeting. “Italy wants to revive its €7bn trade balance with Iran of before sanctions; Vienna deal has been beneficial for Iran as well as for the EU and the globe; our prospects of the situation are totally optimistic about reviving past relations,” she added.
“We are willing to invest in partnership with Iran in the country’s different projects in return for providing Italian markets for Iranian business tycoons to test their chances; we agreed on cooperation in agriculture, machinery, food industries, jewelry, maritime industries, aerospace, and automaking industries,” Guidi said.
The Head of Iran-Italy Joint Chamber of Commerce Ahmad Pourfallah also addressed the meeting; “Iran has one of the strongest chambers of commerce with Italy among the EU countries, with a staggering number of members as 3,000, covering a wide range of occupations and businesses as well as state owned larger corporations and private giants,” he added. “The joint chamber had had the supports of the embassy and Iran-Italy joint chamber of commerce and trade; in the past, both countries had the trade balance of over €7bn, with being now just €1.5bn, which we hope to raise this figure through cordial relations in the future,” he detailed.
“Employment of Iranian university graduates and expert labor forces in Italian holding companies, establishing of the joint commission to improve small and large-scale industries, and improving tourism would provide other fields of cooperation,” Pourfallah told the meeting.
Ali Ansari, Deputy of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce was another figure to speak; “changes wrought upon Iran’s technology and management systems by sanctions had largely changed the potentials to cooperate; first know well your trade partners, since Iranian tradesmen and business moguls had by now been more erudite and competent compared to the past,” he addressed Italian delegation.