Freed from the sanctions that kept his nation as a terra non grata for more than a decade, and flush with some liberated funds, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, arrives for his first European visit and has his eyes on about 114 shiny new Airbus Group SE jets and some $18.4 billion of Italian goods.
Rouhani is in Rome Monday through Wednesday to speak to a business group, then travel to Paris on Thursday for a meeting with President Francois Hollande.
Rouhani’s expedition (some are calling it a victory lap) to Europe comes just a week after the United States and Europe lifted crippling economic sanctions that were in a punishment for Iran’s nuclear program. With sanctions now over, Iran hopes to attract $50 billion a year in foreign investment, and rebound its moribund economy that has been hard hit by the slump in oil prices.
In Italy, where Rouhani is slated to meet with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and with the Argentine-born pope, Francis, he is predicted to sign off on as many as a dozen accords with Italian companies, according to an Italian government official who spoke with Bloomberg News. Before sanctions cut off commercial ties, Italy was Iran’s biggest European trading partner.
The purchase from Airbus Industries may include the double-decker A380 superjumbo jet as well A320 aircraft, Iran Air Chairman and Managing Director Farhad Parvaresh. Citing Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi, the official Mehr news agency reported that the first of the 114 commercial aircraft intended for Iran Air are expected to be delivered before March 21, a crucial date that could be used to draw voters to Rouhani’s allies in the elections upcoming in February.