Economically-vibrant Iran benefits whole region: Academic

Press TV has conducted an interview with Alexander Azadgan, a professor of Strategic Global Management and International Political Economy, to discuss the positive impacts of Iranian President Rouhani’s visit to Italy.

 The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, as many have pointed out again is that Italy needs these deals just as much as Iran if not more considering its economic quagmire that has been stuck in ever since the great recession. What does the signing of all these memorandums of understanding (MoU) and deals mean?

Azadgan: It is a very interesting premise that you brought up. Yes, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland are the most dire straight nations in the European Union which is having all source of problems.

I think this is a win-win situation. I personally would like to congratulate the Rouhani administration and especially Dr. Zarif, the foreign minister, who through the P5+1-JCPOA agreements sort of created the grounds for this $18.5 billion contract to be signed. This covers the transportation, health industry, energy sector and agriculture between Iran and Italy. I think this is definitely a win-win situation which has been the motto of Rouhani administration. 45 billion of this $18.5 billion contract goes to energy industry, Italian oil group services Saipem; around $6 billion of the contract goes to Danieli Corporation, which is an Italian steel firm; around $4.5 billion will go to Condotte d'Acqua corporation, which is an Italian infrastructure firm.  

And then after this we have President Rouhani going to France and hopefully signing a contract with Airbus and purchasing 114 airplanes. Some of them are going be 8-320, 8-340 and hopefully 8-350 and 8-380 which are the double-decker super jets.

I personally think Italy is benefiting a lot from this; Again Iran, during the past years of these very unfair sanctions, has not exactly been doing well. I think this should be a signal to Washington that diplomacy does work; I think this should be a signal to Saudi Arabia that they should not feel threatened with this you know economic invigoration that Iran is feeling at the moment and as you played right in the beginning of your report, this is about peace and security in the region; it is not about Iran winning and Saudi Arabia losing.

Press TV: The Italian prime minister did also say, “This is just the beginning.” And let’s not forget Iran and Italy have shared historical roots and ties as well. What more can you see happening in the coming weeks and months as far as these multilateral or bilateral ties are concerned between Iran and other countries that are in Europe or outside the Middle East region?

Azadgan: Yes, it is a very good question. So as I mentioned, France will be next; Germany of course will be a huge partner in these economic ties that are being re-established. President Rouhani is on a three-nation-leg tour; we have a high-ranking Iranian delegation which includes Iranian businessmen, entrepreneurs and Iranian government officials. Like I said it is going to be three nations. Italy being the first one because the biggest bulk of this contract; this is not a small thing, $18.5 billion which is around €17 billion.

Another thing that we also are seeing a great development in the region, to answer your question, is [that] Iran and Egypt are resuming trade ties, which I think is absolutely wonderful. Historically, we have seen very organized efforts by some here in the West to make sure that Iran and Egypt, who are the two most powerful nations in the West Asia, Middle East region, to not have close ties. And by close ties, I mean economically, socially, politically, militarily and culturally. So we are definitely seeing a very positive trend for Iran and its neighbors, close neighbors as well as its European partners. Again I like to emphasize the Saudi regime should not feel threatened, or other people in the region; it is not just the Saudis. We have the Jordanians; we have the Kuwaitis; we have the Emiratis, Qataris, even Turkey. They should not be threatened by this. A vigorous, an economically-vibrant Iran is a benefit to everybody in the region.

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