TEHRAN – Italian Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi says Italy seeks to restore once booming economic ties with Iran.

“Italy was the leading trading partner of Iran before sanctions are imposed on Iran. Bilateral trade reached €7 billion in 2011, while it has dropped to around €1 billion now. Nearly all Large Italian companies had established centers in Iran,” Guidi told the IRNA news agency on the verge of her two-day visit to Tehran.

Guidi will lead a high-ranking trade delegation to Tehran on August 4. The delegation, comprising 300 traders and businessmen, will be also accompanied by Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni. 

“We want to identify prioritized fields of activity to resume bilateral economic and trade cooperation once sanctions are lifted,” Guidi said.

Senior directors of Italian renowned energy companies such as Eni S.p.A. and financial entities like SACE, in addition to the carmakers, pharmaceutical producers and banks will be among the members of delegation. 

Italy took the lead among Iran’s European trading partners in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20.   

Italy was the 9th leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the past calendar year, with importing $618.419 million of non-oil goods from Iran and exporting $1.059 billion of non-oil goods to the country, accounting for 1.5 percent of Iran’s total non-oil trade.    

That was while Italy was the 19th leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in Iranian calendar year 1392 (March 2013-March 2014).      

On May 17, Iran and Italy signed a bilateral trade insurance agreement which is expected to help facilitate commercial transactions between the two countries.      

The agreement was signed between the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI) and Italy’s Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (SACE).     

SACE says lifting of sanctions against Iran can raise Italy’s exports to the country by €3 billion over a course of four years.