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As ties thaw, Iran's Rouhani in historic visit to Europe

12 November 2015 18:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Hassan Rouhani heads to Italy and France from Saturday for the first visit of an Iranian leader to Europe in a decade, as ties thaw after Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, APA reports quoting AFP.

In Rome on Saturday and Sunday, Rouhani will meet Italian officials and Pope Francis, while on Monday and Tuesday he will visit Paris and see President Francois Hollande.

On the agenda will be potential business deals -- as Iran opens up to the global economy after the historic July nuclear agreement -- and talks on regional issues including the conflict in Syria.

The last visit to Europe by an Iranian leader was in 2005, when Mohammad Khatami, like Rouhani a reformist, travelled to Vienna and Paris.

Khatami's first trip to Europe was in 1999, the first visit of an Iranian leader since the 1979 revolution. He also held talks at the Vatican, meeting then pontiff John Paul II.

The choices of France and Italy for both visits are hardly surprising -- before sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2006 over its nuclear programme, the two countries were the oil-and-gas-rich nation's main European economic partners.

Both are keen to resume that cooperation after the July 14 accord, which saw Iran agree with six world powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States) to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

A steady stream of foreign business leaders have been making their way to Tehran since the deal, eager to seize their share of the Iranian market and its 78 million people.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni were among the first Western officials to visit Tehran over the summer, bringing the invitations for Rouhani's European trip.

In an interview with France 2 public television on Wednesday, Rouhani said he expected to sign a number of documents that would "form the basis for industrial and commercial agreements".

Among them, he said, will "probably" be a move to buy Airbus aircraft to renew Iran's ageing fleet.

Fabius was followed in Iran in September by a delegation of some 150 French business leaders seeking opportunities.

Some -- like automakers PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault or oil giant Total, all long present in Iran -- want to restart operations in the country which were reduced under the sanctions.