European Trips After Sanctions Lifted: Rouhani to Visit Italy and France

Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will make his first European trip after the lifting of sanctions, visiting Italy and then France in early February. He is scheduled to meet with the Pope in the Vatican. According to Reuters, the Iranian President will travel to Italy on January 25 and 26 (5th and 6th of Bahman) and then to France on January 27 (7th of Bahman). In Italy, on the first day of his visit, he will meet with the President, Prime Minister, and economic officials of the country. On the second day of his visit to Italy, he will also meet with Pope Francis, the leader of Catholics worldwide. Previously, Rouhani was supposed to visit Italy and France in November, but this trip was canceled due to the Paris terrorist attacks. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, stated on November 23 during a television program that he had expressed to his Italian counterpart that now is the time to use the opportunity of today's tragedy in France for international coordination and the fight against terrorism, so it would be better for Rouhani's trip to Europe to take place at a better time in the near future. Earlier, Francois Hollande, the President of France, had invited his Iranian counterpart to visit Paris in November. Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, announced during his visit to Tehran in July that he was carrying a formal invitation letter from Hollande to the Iranian President. During a press conference with Zarif, he spoke of a new era in Iran-France relations following the Vienna nuclear agreement and stated that 'we are looking to expand relations between the two countries.' After the official announcement of the lifting of sanctions on Iran, officials of the Islamic Republic are hopeful that economic and trade exchanges with other countries, especially European countries, will resume. In this context, the Mehr news agency reported on January 26 that representatives from oil companies Shell and Total had arrived in Tehran to negotiate with Iranian oil officials. Ali Akbar Safaei, the CEO of the National Tanker Company, announced last week that 'negotiations with all major oil companies in the world, especially Europeans, have begun.' Iran and Italy had also officially started their economic and trade negotiations a month before the official lifting of sanctions. In Azar of this year, with the visit of a 360-member economic delegation from Italy to Tehran and meetings and negotiations with Iranian economic and banking officials, four cooperation agreements were signed in various sectors of tourism and trade, and it was decided to establish a $5 billion banking credit line between the two countries.