An Italian economic delegation including 310 representatives of several companies and banks led by Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio and Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina is to pay a three-day visit to Tehran. The visit by the Italian delegation, which begins today, follows a January visit by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Italy, which resulted in signing of several cooperation agreements between Tehran and Rome, IRNA reported. On the eve of the Tehran visit, the Italian minister of infrastructure and transport in an interview with AGI News Agency said that Iran's strategic and geographical situation is an important gate to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Caucasus and all Central Asian states and Italy is also a gate to Europe in the Mediterranean area. Delrio added that the visit is of great importance for Italy, because following the agreements reached between the two countries in Italy, the time has come to take more steps in line with cooperation between Iranian and Italian companies. On January 25, Iran and Italy signed multibillion-dollar contracts covering various sectors including health, transportation, agriculture and energy during the Rouhani’s trip to the European country. The contracts, worth up to 17 billion euros (18.4 billion dollars), were signed in a ceremony attended by Iranian president and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome. A pipeline contract worth between 3.6-4.6 billion euros (4-5 billion dollars) for Italian oil services group Saipem was among the deals. Moreover, Italian steel firm Danieli said it would sign commercial agreements worth up to 5.7 billion euros (6.1 billion dollars) with Iran. Infrastructure firm Condotte d'Acqua was also scheduled to sign deals worth up to four billion euros (4.3 billion dollars).

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