Betting on Iran

31 May 2016, Conference Hall of Palazzo Reale, Milan

Normalizing Iran’s relation with the rest of the world is regarded a top priority not just by President Rohani’s administration, but also by the vast majority of Iranians, who – as demonstrated by the results of the parliamentary elections in February 2016 – aspire to better economic conditions and to international recognition of Iran as a legitimate and important global player.

Besides, the complex constitutional and political nature of the Islamic Republic suggests that nothing can be given for granted and that a continuous, non-superficial analysis of the different trends at work within the Iranian power structures and society is absolutely necessary. The possibility of consolidating the current positive geopolitical, economic, and financial trends that ensued the nuclear agreement are likely to depend on many external factors, including the general regional instability, the very Iranian foreign policy, and the (economic) relations with the major international players, both private and public. For Italian businesses, the opening up of the Iranian market represents a great business opportunity, although some difficulties do remain and have not been overcome yet.

Thanks to the contribution of leading international experts, the discussion revolved around the normalization process of the Iranian relations with the rest of the world, the regained role of one of the major actors in the Middle Eastern, and the perspective development of Iranian international relations in the new and promising context derived from the nuclear agreement and from the gradual lifting of sanctions.

The conference was promoted by CIPMO with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – Directorate General for Political Affairs and Security, with the patronage of the Region of Lombardy and with the patronage of the Municipality of Milan.

Speakers:

Giuseppe Perrone, Deputy Director General/ Central Director for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – Directorate General for Political Affairs and Security; Roberto Toscano, former Italian ambassador to Iran, analyst for the newspaper La Repubblica; Shireen T. Hunter, Research Professor at Georgetown University, Washington D.C.; Janiki Cingoli, President of the Italian Center for Peace in the Middle East (CIPMO); Bijan Khajepour, Managing & Founding partner of Atieh International (Atieh Group), Vienna; Stuart Summers, Senior Advisor at the European External Action Service Task Force Iran (EEAS); Alberto Negri, special correspondent for Il Sole 24 Ore; Ellie Geranmeyeh, Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Middle East and North Africa Programme – desk Iran (ECFR); Eldar Mamedov, Political Advisor of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament; Flavio Zanonato, Member of the European Parliament, member of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Iran, former minister for Economic Development; Robert E. Hunter, Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, School of Advanced International Studies, Washington D.C., former ambassador to NATO; Riccardo Redaelli, Full Professor of Geopolitics and of Asian History and Institutions at the Faculty of Political and social Sciences at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Director of the Center of Research on the Southern System and the Wider Mediterranean (CRiSSMA); Valeria Giannotta, Assistant Professor at the Business School of the Türk Hava Kurum Üniversitesi / The Turkish Aeronautical Association in Ankara; Sherif El Diwany, Executive Director of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES); Lorenzo Cremonesi, special correspondent for Corriere della Sera.

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