Rouhani's visit to Europe brings about deals worth billions of USD

French President Francois Hollande (R) and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani attend a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

TEHRAN -- Bagging deals worth billions of US dollars, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani concluded his four-day trip to Italy and France on Thursday.

In his first foreign trip since the European Union (EU) and the United States lifted sanctions against his country, Rouhani arrived in Italy on Monday for a two-day visit during which the two countries signed several agreements.

Rouhani held meetings with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Among the deals from Rouhani's stay in Italy, a series of four commercial agreements were signed between Iranian companies and Italian steel firm Danieli worth at least 4 billion US dollars. Iran also signed a 4-billion-US-dollar contract with infrastructure development firm Condotte.

"Italy was Iran's leading European economic and trade partner before the sanctions," Italian Minister of Economic Development Federica Guidi said in a press briefing before Rouhani's visit, adding that Italy was eager to rebuild the relationship.

On Wednesday, Iran and Italy released a joint declaration on development of ties in political, economic, cultural, tourism, scientific and technological areas.

As for political cooperation, they agreed to engage in enhanced and systematic consultations, exchanges of visits and any purposeful cooperation within an institutionalized framework.

They also stressed support for the fight against Islamic States (IS) militants and affiliated terrorist groups, and the UN-sponsored political process and intra-Syrian dialogue toward a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria.

Both states urged the expansion of economic relations in all areas of common interest, particularly in energy, agriculture, transportation and environment sectors.

They also agreed to encourage bilateral banking and credit relations, to establish an appropriate executive mechanism to boost mutual investments, and to introduce new projects and areas of possible cooperation between small and medium enterprises.

On Wednesday, France rolled out red carpet to Rouhani, in a bid to open a new chapter on bilateral ties and seal worthy investment deals.