AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.4%)
AIRLINK 129.53 Decreased By ▼ -2.20 (-1.67%)
BOP 6.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.15%)
CNERGY 4.63 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.58%)
DCL 8.94 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.36%)
DFML 41.69 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (2.66%)
DGKC 83.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-0.37%)
FCCL 32.77 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.33%)
FFBL 75.47 Increased By ▲ 6.86 (10%)
FFL 11.47 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
HUBC 110.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-1.08%)
HUMNL 14.56 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.75%)
KEL 5.39 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (3.26%)
KOSM 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-6.46%)
MLCF 39.79 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.91%)
NBP 60.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 199.66 Increased By ▲ 4.72 (2.42%)
PAEL 26.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.15%)
PIBTL 7.66 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.41%)
PPL 157.92 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.38%)
PRL 26.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
PTC 18.46 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.87%)
SEARL 82.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-0.7%)
TELE 8.31 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.97%)
TOMCL 34.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.06 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.84%)
TREET 17.47 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (4.61%)
TRG 61.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.81%)
UNITY 27.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (7.81%)
BR100 10,407 Increased By 220 (2.16%)
BR30 31,713 Increased By 377.1 (1.2%)
KSE100 97,328 Increased By 1781.9 (1.86%)
KSE30 30,192 Increased By 614.4 (2.08%)

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is to visit Italy and France next week to boost economic ties, in his first European tour since a nuclear deal saw sanctions lifted against the Islamic republic. The visit had been planned for last November but was cancelled after the deadly jihadist attacks in Paris.
The Monday-Wednesday tour takes place a week after Tehran's deal with world powers came into force, allowing the United States and the European Union to lift economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear activities. Iran will seek to restore its economic relations with Rome and Paris, which were among Tehran's main economic partners before the tightening of international sanctions in January 2012. Rouhani, heading a high-powered political and business delegation, is on Monday to meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, before speaking at an economic forum.
The moderate cleric is also to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican, in the first official visit of an Iranian president there since reformist leader Mohammad Khatami in 1999. Since 2012, trade between Iran and Italy has slumped from 7 billion euros (around $7.6 billion) to 1.2 billion euros a year.
But now sanctions have been lifted, Italian businessmen are eager to renew ties. Italy's Deputy Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda in November visited Tehran with representatives of 178 companies and 12 banking groups. After Italy, Rouhani will travel to France to meet French President Francois Hollande. In Iran's booming automobile sector, French carmakers Renault and Peugeot hope to regain some of their pre-sanctions 30% share of the market.
But they face competition from German, South Korean, Chinese and Japanese manufacturers. Iran manufactures more than 1.1 million vehicles a year but hopes to increase production to 1.6 million in 2016 and 3 million in the future, in collaboration with European and Asian carmakers. "We will discuss Peugeot during the visit," the Iranian foreign ministry said. The rate of car ownership in Iran is just 100 per 1,000 people - six times less than in Europe - and consumers have had limited access to new vehicles under Western sanctions.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016

Comments

Comments are closed.