{"id":966,"date":"2015-11-13T23:16:18","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T22:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=966"},"modified":"2015-11-13T23:16:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T22:16:18","slug":"on-rouhanis-rainbow-tour-europe-hopes-for-a-pot-of-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=966","title":{"rendered":"On Rouhani’s rainbow tour, Europe hopes for a pot of gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anthony Faiola \/\u00a0Stefano Pitrelli in Rome and Virgile Demoustier in Paris contributed to this report<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

ROME \u2014\u00a0When the last Iranian president touched down in the Eternal City for a U.N. summit in 2008, Italian officials and businessmen ran the other way. But they are already lining up for Hassan Rouhani.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The current Iranian president lands here Saturday as the man of the hour, with his first official European trip heralding the promise of Iran\u2019s nuclear deal to jumpstart an economy crippled by a decade of international sanctions while providing a boom for business in the West.<\/p>\n

U.S. relations with the Islamic Republic may remain relatively frosty, but Europe is rushing in where Washington fears to tread. Its companies and countries are eager for a slice of post-sanctions Iran, leaving executives and officials jostling for face time with Rouhani to strike preliminary deals for what may be a bonanza of business worth billions of euros.<\/p>\n

Back in Iran, hardliners leery of any thaw with the West are\u00a0busy arresting journalists\u00a0<\/a>and activists. But Rouhani\u2019s European rainbow tour of Italy and France is offering a counterpoint to that crackdown: a glimpse into a world where Iran is no longer a pariah state.<\/p>\n

[Iranian crackdown ensnares journalists, activists and poets<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

Freed to extend a welcome by the nuclear deal, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will guide Rouhani through the statuary and mosaics of the Capitoline Museums to mark the rekindling of the ancient ties between Iran and Italy \u2014 a modern industrial power that was once Tehran\u2019s largest trading partner in Europe. The two are poised to sign a bilateral deal Saturday evening. Rouhani will also whisk past Vatican City\u2019s Swiss Guards for a t\u00eate\u2013\u00e0\u2013t\u00eate with Pope Francis.<\/p>\n

Rouhani has dubbed the trip \u201ca new beginning\u201d for Iran and the European Union. He even set it up with an awkwardly friendly interview in Italy\u2019s Corriere della Sera, in which he managed to both denounce Israel while professing Iran\u2019s \u201clove\u201d of Judaism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIranian people can hate Zionist policies and Israel while loving Judaism, its prophets and the Book, at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At its core, however, Rouhani\u2019s multi-day trip to Italy and France is all business \u2014 an event heralding Iran\u2019s emergence from economic isolation. If and when Iran\u2019s pledge to limit the scope of its nuclear program are verified next year, the Islamic Republic could soon find itself flush with tens of billions of dollars worth of unfrozen assets. At the same time, European companies could see substantial sums long frozen by the Iranians unleashed for investment \u2014 enough cash, Tehran hopes, to launch an economic miracle on the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

[Italy will raise Post reporter\u2019s case with Iranians<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

Bilateral restrictions\u00a0will continue to limit access to Iran for U.S. companies<\/a>. But the lifting of international sanctions would give the Europeans fresh entr\u00e9e to a burgeoning market of 77\u00a0million in a country poised to modernize its industries and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

To lay the groundwork for investment and be the first through the door, hundreds of European companies have already sent representatives to buzzing Tehran and even more are on the way. Official trade delegations led by high-ranking ministers have been sent to Iran from a growing list of European powers including Germany, Italy and France.<\/p>\n

The German state of Bavaria has already announced the opening of a new business office in Tehran. Italy, on the heels of a business mission in August, will dispatch a massive delegation of more than 230 companies later this month, including aerospace company Finmeccanica, shipbuilder Fincantieri and the Prysmian Group, an energy and telecommunications firm.<\/p>\n

U.S. and Israeli critics of the Iran deal have been quick to remind Europe that until Iran complies, the rules haven\u2019t changed. And if Iran violates the deal, sanctions could be quickly restored. But even some opponents are grudgingly acknowledging the birth of a new era.<\/p>\n

\u201cRouhani is coming for a victory round in Europe,\u201d said Naor Gilon, Israel\u2019s ambassador to Rome. \u201cUndoubtedly, Iran is coming out of this more self-assured.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Iran after the nuclear deal<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

Oil and gas, European companies say, is only the beginning. They project Iran will refurbish or extend 4,300\u00a0miles of railways, build 4\u00a0million new homes, upgrade factory equipment, construct new highways, expand Tehran\u2019s international airport, renovate entire neighborhoods, purchase high tech hospital equipment to attract medical tourism, and invest in modern machinery to ramp up production and exports of saffron, pistachios and grains.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd more,\u201d said an excited Licia Mattioli, a vice president with Confindustria, a powerful Rome-based association of Italian industries. Doing business with Iran \u201cis not taboo anymore. You cannot be ashamed of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, there remain signs that is not entirely true. Some companies may be angling to enter Iran, but others remain reluctant. Confindustria, for instance, initially said Fiat would send a company representative on a massive Italian business mission to Iran later this month. But a spokesman for the company quickly denied it would join the trip and instead said Fiat was taking a \u201cwait and see approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rouhani will deliver a speech to UNESCO and meet with French companies on Monday. But officials in Paris said his meeting with President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande would focus on political and not economic issues, vowing that the French leader would press Rouhani on human rights and Iranian involvement in Middle East.<\/p>\n

[Israel blasts Iran deal as \u2018dark day\u2019 in history<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

A general wariness of investing in Iran may also linger, especially for big banks. Germany\u2019s Deutsche Bank, for instance, was fined $258 million by the United States this month for defying still existing sanctions on Iran and Syria. Experts predict it may take years before it and many other large European financial institutions are willing to finance large projects in Iran even after international sanctions are lifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in all this talk of a gold rush,\u201d said Michael Tockuss, director of the Iran-Germany Chamber of Commerce. \u201cThere will be lots of new investment. But big deals will still need improvements to privatizations and international transparency rules in Iran. It\u2019s going to take a little bit before there\u2019s a gold rush, and right now they\u2019re still selling oil for less than $50 a barrel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some companies are waxing poetic about the \u201cnew Iran\u201d while others are taking a middle of the road approach. Nicola Tognana, chairman of Tognana Superoof, a Treviso-based tile company, will be heading to Tehran later this month to weigh the opening of a new factory to capitalize on what some predict will be an Iranian building boom. He is enthusiastic about the prospects, but also said he was reluctant to immediately commit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll need to get a better understanding of this game over the next two to three months,\u201d Tognana said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anthony Faiola \/\u00a0Stefano Pitrelli in Rome and Virgile Demoustier in Paris contributed to this report. ROME \u2014\u00a0When the last Iranian president touched down in the Eternal City for a U.N. summit in 2008, Italian officials and businessmen ran the other way. But they are already lining up for Hassan Rouhani.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,51,12,100,92,50,15,48],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washpost","tag-economia","tag-esteri","tag-lobbismo","tag-medio-oriente","tag-papa-francesco","tag-politica","tag-religioni","tag-vaticano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}