Tehran, Rome to Review Economic Ties

EghtesadOnine: Tehran Chamber of Commerce Industries, Mines and Agriculture is set to hold a specialized economic roundtable in cooperation with the Italian Embassy and the European House-Ambrosseti on Iran-Italy trade ties.

News ID: ۷۸۵۵۵۰

30 June 2020

The business-to-business session, which is the second of its kind, will be held via videoconference on July 22, the news portal of TCCIM reported.

Ambrosetti is a professional group founded in 1965, which has gradually developed many activities in Italy, Europe and the world.

The online event is aimed at creating a platform for promoting high-level meetings between Italian and Iranian business leaders and institutions to revive and strengthen strategic and economic relations between Iran and Italy in the face of challenges posed by US unilateral sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.

The debate will revolve around a number of key issues, including non-oil sectors, the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the European Union’s support for expansion of such ties.

Participants also envisage the establishment of a forum of leaders able to interact, share visions and develop new and profitable partnership opportunities over time.

The first Iran-Italy Economic Conference was held in cooperation with Ambrosetti in Tehran in May 2016.

The group had planned to hold the Iran-Italy conference annually to fortify political and economic ties between the two sides, however, this did not materialize.

It is an international event held annually, which brings together heads of state, ministers, Nobel laureates and businessmen to discuss challenges facing the world’s economies and societies.

Italy was Iran’s second biggest European economic partner in the first four months of 2020.

Trade between the two countries stood at €153.41 million during January-April to witness a 20.35% increase in comparison with the corresponding period of 2019.

Iran’s share of exports to Italy stood at €40.26 million, while its imports from the country topped €165.70 million during the period.

Overall, trade between Iran and EU member states during January-April stood at €1.47 billion to register a 2.5% decline compared with last year’s corresponding period, latest data provided by the European Statistical Office show.

Iran exported €245.5 million worth of commodities to the EU during the four-month period, indicating a 4.73% rise compared with the similar period of the previous year.

The main export destinations over the period were Germany (€73.09 million), the Netherlands (€47.46 million), Italy (€40.26 million), Spain (€24.36 million) and Belgium (€15.44 million).

Imports from the EU dropped by 3.82% to stand at €1.22 billion during the four months.

The top five exporters from the European bloc to Iran were Germany with €555.21 billion, Italy with €165.70 million, the Netherlands with €105.95 million, France with €70.70 million and Denmark with €67.33 million.