Remains undaunted by Trump’s election as US president
IFM Correspondent
November 24, 2016: In a rebuttal to US president-elect Donald Trump, Italy’s industry minister pledged to support business deals with Iran potentially worth billions of dollars.
Iran re-joined the global business scene in January this year after the US decided to lift sanctions on the country. However, president-elect Donald Trump during his campaign had maintained that he will tear the deal if he becomes the president. This had left many European diplomats fearing the change of leadership at the White House could thwart growing trade.
But Italian Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said he would continue to work to strengthen trade ties, and travel to Iran in early 2017 along with Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan.
The issue of funding investment, which Tehran complains has been held up by continued US sanctions restricting Iran’s access to the international banking and financial system, would be high on the agenda, he said.
“The central issue is to make financing channels work fully, so that all the good projects we have can become reality,” Calenda said at a trade fair in Rome for Iranian companies.
Calenda said it is too early to say how the picture could change under Trump’s leadership, but in the interests of the countries involved “I think there is the absolute necessity to implement the (nuclear) agreement and move forward that way”.