Italy's prime minister Matteo Renzi will travel to Iran for a two-day official visit next week on 12 and 13 April , his office said Monday. It gave no further details of the visit, which comes less than three months after a landmark visit to Italy by the Iranian president.
Italy was the first European country Iran's president Hassan Rouhani visited on his historic trip in late January aimed at rebuilding economic and political ties.
Some 20 billion dollars of accords covering industries from natural gas to high-speed rail were signed at a ceremony in Rome on 25 January after talks between Renzi and Rouhani.
Renzi said during Rohani's visit that the multi-billion dollar deals were only the beginning of future cooperation between the two countries.
Italy was Iran's biggest European trading partner before the international sanctions imposed on the country over its controversial nuclear programme and has led the way among Western countries in re-establishing economic ties with Iran.
The first state visit to Europe by an Iranian leader for 16 years came after sanctions against Iran were lifted in January under a landmark deal it reached with world powers last July to scale back its nuclear activities.
