90% of Italian Enterprises Have No Fear of U.S. Sanctions
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – General Secretary of Iran-Italy Joint Chamber of Commerce Ms. Lida Shahabi says private sector in Italy is increasing pressure on Italian government to launch a financial mechanism with Iran to increase economic ties between both states.
In an interview with INLA, Ms. Shahabi said that Italian government’s economic condition is in a way that it cannot close its eyes on attractive market of Iran.
She further said that Italian government is currently under pressure from the private sector to launch a financial mechanism for boosting trade between both states.
She noted that before the U.S. pullout of the JCPOA and its reimposition of sanctions, Italy was Iran’s first trade partner in Europe, adding that most of Iran’s infrastructures have been built by Italians. She went on to say that Iran used to sell most of its oil to Italian oil company ENI, adding that Italy was the first destination for Iran’s oil export. But ENI was of the first companies which left Iran after the U.S. sanctions despite having waiver from the U.S., she stated.
Shahabi reiterated that since Italy’s oil infrastructures are fit with Iran oil, ENI’s departure caused heavy damages to the company.
She further said that since the former Italian government was wright-wing, it was considered as pro-U.S. President Donald Trump and it had no interest for having ties with Iran but the current government is a centrist and she hopes the bilateral relations would be improved.
Shahabi noted that the trade volume between Iran and Italy in 2018 stood at 5.1b euros and 3.7b euros belong to the oil trade and 1.4b euros to the non-oil trade. She added that but the figure in 2019 declined to 680m euros which is an insignificant figure.
She stated that currently Iran’s major exports to Italy are steel, iron, dried-fruits, fruits, copper and salambore and in return, Italy exports to Iran machineries, parts and equipment of cars, textile industries, heavy cutting machines and ophthalmology equipment.
Touching upon the banking problems for traders because of the sanctions, she said some Italian banks like Popolare still works with Iranians and it continues cooperation with its old clients but it does not open any new account for Iranians.
Shahabi added that small and medium-sized enterprises play key role in Italy’s economy, adding that 90 percent of them are enterprises which have employees less than 10 persons and they have no ties with the U.S., and as the result, they do not fear the U.S.
She added those enterprises are eager to cooperate with Iran because they see Iran’s market attractive one and they are not ready to ignore it. So they have increased pressure on the government to find a financial mechanism for boosting trade, she added.
On Italy’s probable joining to the INSTEX, she said she hopes Italy would join the INSTEX because Italian government has changed, and its approaches have also changed.
