Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on Monday began a two-day visit to Italy where he is expected to sign agreements with Italian firms worth some 18 billion euros during the first leg of a landmark European trip.
Rouhani's first meeting in Rome was with Italy's president Sergio Mattarella and foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni. Later on Monday he was due to meet Italian premier Matteo Renzi and hold a joint media conference after their meeting.
Rouhani is leading a 120-member delegation that includes government ministers and businessmen for the five days of meetings in Rome and Paris this week, a visit aimed at rebuilding economic ties.
Tuesday he was due to take part in Rome in a bilateral business forum and to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican later in the day.
Gentiloni is also slated on Tuesday to meet his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.
Rouhani will hold a press conference on Wednesday before he and the Iranian delegation fly to Paris, where he will sign a major deal with Airbus purchase of 114 aircraft from the European manufacturer.
The first state visit to Europe by an Iranian leader for 16 years comes after international sanctions against Iran were lifted last week after it agreed to scale back its nuclear activities in a landmark deal last July.
