Italy has never fully cut its trade relations with Iran

Speaking to ILNA and in response to a question on Iran-Italy trade, Pourfallah said for long years Italy has been Iran’s major European trade partner and the trade balance between Iran and Italy has always been positive in favor of Iran as the trade between the two states exceeded 7b euros before the JCPOA deal.

He said before the sanctions, Italy used to meet all its crude demands through imports from Iran because most of infrastructures of industries like textile, home appliances, shoes, food industries, iron, steel and even some part of the oil, gas and petrochemical products have been the result of the technology transfer and machineries from Italy.

On the probable purchase of Iran crude by Italy, Pourfallah said Italians in dealing with Iran have been always positive and even their political parameters have not been influenced by the sensational and biased decisions.

He added therefore, the meetings and talks between officials of the two countries can pave the ground for faster normalization of ties after the U.S. return to the JCPOA. He reiterated that Italy has never cut fully its ties with Iran and it will probably return to its previous trade records with Iran sooner than any European states.

On the amount of Iran’s blocked money in Italy, he said Italy has no significance debt to Iran and it has always settled their financial undertakings on time.

Pourfallah also pointed to the necessity of international communication and said the country should do its best for creating balance in interaction with all countries in the world based on the win-win equations and bilateral interests in order to provide access for the national production fleet to the international markets for providing the raw materials and technologic equipment, and also for penetration into their export markets and attracting the foreign investment.

On the priorities of the next government in the country, he said that the government should consider the private sector as its friend and companion and a wing out of the two wings of the economy.

He also called for more supervision in the national banking system with scientific and national views and called for firm response to the economic corruption.

Pourfallah also urged the next government to encourage the investors and successful producers of the country who earned the country honor and credit, and to include them in the economic delegations who accompany the president during his visits to other countries.

He also said that when it comes to preparing the budget bill, the political differences should be set aside and the decisions should be wise and fair without political motivation.

END