Italy signs deal for prompt business in Iran

Italian group Pessina Costruzioni has signed an initial agreement to build five hospitals in Iran as companies scramble to steal a lead on rivals amid renewed trade heating up.

Guido Stefanelli, the CEO of the Milan-based company, signed an MoU with Iran’s Ministry of Health in Tehran on Tuesday where three of the 1,000-bed hospitals will be built.

Two 500-bed units will be constructed in Iran’s northern city of Rasht and Nayshabur in the country’s northeast, the Italian news agency AGI reported.

Pessina Costruzioni, Italy’s leader in the construction and management of hospitals, will be one of the first foreign firms to return to Iran after the lifting of sanctions and reopening of financial exchanges.

Italy was one of Iran’s leading economic and trade partners before sanctions when annual exchanges amounted to 7 billion euros compared with $1.6 billion euros now.

Italian Deputy Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda led a large trade delegation to Tehran in November, representing 178 companies, 20 business associations and 12 banking groups.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is about to visit Italy and France from January 25 to 27 after the trip originally scheduled for mid-November was postponed due to the Paris attacks.