France 24 said the visit follows lifting of financial sanctions which brought his country of 80 million people back into the world of global commerce.
It said the visit is more economic than political.
It added that the report on the president’s visit to France and Tehran’s willingness to purchase Airbus passenger jets are the first important commercial announcement of Iran after lift of economic sanctions.
After years of sanctions, Iran with a population of 79 million is in dire need of transportation gadgets, especially air transportation, according to the report.

Intensified sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012 put a stop on the last remaining channel of connectivity with Egypt in the absence of diplomatic ties.
In recent months, officials from both countries had hoped that the lifting of sanctions would revive trade ties and help improve diplomatic relations.
“Iran has no limitations to sale of crude oil and oil products to Egypt and any official request will be considered when it is made,” Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Roknoddin Javadi has said.
On Monday, a report released by the customs office of the Pars Special Energy Economic Zone showed a petrochemicals cargo had been sent to Egypt in the new year, without specifying the type of the products or their volume.
Last November, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said Egypt looked to Iran’s ramp-up of oil production which could boost the Arab nation’s proceeds from transit of crude through the SUMED pipeline.
‘They used to work with us through SUMED. They used to store their crude there at Ain Sukhna terminal and Sidi Kerir. It will boost back again the activity of SUMED,’ Reuters quoted him as saying.
State-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corp owns the 320-km SUMED which runs from the Red Sea to the port of Sidi Kerir west of Alexandria.
Western sanctions imposed on Iran’s oil sector brought shipments through SUMED and the Suez Canal to a virtual halt since 2012, hitting revenues for cash-strapped Egypt, former Egyptian oil minister Sherif Ismail said in July.
According to NIOC’s international affairs head Mohsen Qamsari, “With the annulment of sanctions, Iran’s oil ties with Egypt will definitely improve and more crude oil will be exported to Europe through the SUMED transit line or Suez.”
Javadi hoped expansion of oil trade would help improve political relations between Iran and Egypt, Press TV reported.
Iran and Egypt have held no diplomatic ties since 1980 when Cairo offered asylum to the former shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and maintained peace treaties with Israel.

During the visit which is taking place with the objective of promoting bilateral relations, he will be leading a ranking delegation to Iran.

The foreign minister stressed that South Korea thinks it has to take more steps towards expanding relations with Tehran.

He said the vice minister will be holding a number of meetings with his Iranian counterparts during the visit.

The foreign minister said that Joo will be accompanied by a big delegation during his visit to Tehran.

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) already announced that it plans to sign an agreement with Central Bank of Iran on providing up to about 5 billion euros in financing for South Korean companies doing business there.

The specialist trade financing bank said in a statement it plans to sign the agreement during the current quarter to support contracts that South Korean companies win from Iran in sectors including power generation, construction and steel-making.

The statement was issued while the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea has already announced that it will lift all bans toward relations with Iran as soon as the ‘Implementation Day’ starts.

Seoul hopes that lifting anti-Iran sanctions would lead to create newer and more proper opportunities for the South Korean companies to develop trade exchange with the Iranian side.

The IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano released a report on January 16 verifying nuclear program in Iran.

Then, the US and the European Union lifted anti-Iran sanctions and the implementation of the July 14 nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) started as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a joint statement announcing the ‘Implementation Day’.

President Rouhani and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi were overseeing the signing ceremony of the bilateral cooperation documents by ministers and other high-ranking officials of their respective countries.
The agreements were mainly in the industrial fields including forestry, road and railways buildings, mining and other infrastructure, banking, insurance, health, agriculture and gas industry.
Additional economic contracts are scheduled to be signed on Tuesday which will reportedly amount to 18.4 billion dollars.
Prior to the signing of documents, Rouhani and Renzi held a meeting on promotion of Iran-Italy relations and discussed regional developments.
Earlier in the day, President Rouhani met Italian President Sergio Mattarella during which he said Iran is keen on expansion of cooperation in post-sanctions era, including joint venture investment, transfer of technology and manufacturing export-oriented products.
President Rouhani is scheduled to visit Vatican and meet Pope on Tuesday.
The four-day state visit, the first by an Iranian head of state after implementation of the nuclear Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), will also take Rouhani and his delegation to Paris for expansion of bilateral ties with European countries after removal of anti-Iran sanctions.
Negotiations will focus on bilateral relations as well as regional developments as Iranian and European statesmen in Rome and Paris are scheduled to confer and sign agreements and contracts on energy, economic, industrial and trade relations.

Tokyo on Friday lifted sanctions on Iran, falling in line with major world powers after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed last weekend that Tehran had fully taken steps to place temporary curbs on its nuclear program. As such, January 16 marks the official end of western sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
With the lifting of sanctions, Japanese insurance companies will be able to issue policies covering trade deals involving Iran. Japanese business will also be able to make new investments in Iran’s oil and gas sector.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visited Iran in October and struck an investment deal stipulating protection of assets of Japanese firms investing in the country, Japanese business journal Nikkei Asia Review wrote on its website.
Now that the anti-Iran sanctions are a thing of the past, Tokyo is soon expected to conclude the investment pact to help Japanese firms expand into the Iranian market.
Japanese automakers, including Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor and Mazda Motor, which had long anticipated this moment, aim to quickly restart exports.
Some Japanese car companies have begun procuring parts and planning deliveries since last fall in hopes of jumping back into the market, which sees over one million new vehicle sales annually.
Isuzu Motors, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp. are considering returning to the Iranian market.
Infrastructure-related demand is also expected to grow in Iran. With Iran planning nearly 30 high-speed railroad projects, Japan hopes to export its Shinkansen bullet train systems, according to Japanese newspaper The Japan News.
Iran also plans to buy hundreds of passenger aircraft over the coming years to replenish its aging fleet.
“Iran is said to be interested in Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp.’s Mitsubishi Regional Jet, the first Japanese-made passenger jet,” the newspaper wrote.
In the financial sector, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank are mulling restarting some money-wiring service to Iran now that the ban on currency exchange contracts and other transactions will be lifted. The service will cover non-dollar currencies such as the yen and euro.
Insurance companies can also issue trade policies lasting longer than two years.
Iran, with a population of about 80 million, has the world’s largest natural gas reserves and fourth-largest oil reserves. Some say when the country starts pumping out more crude, it may spark a further drop in oil prices.
But Yasushi Kimura, chairman of oil wholesaler JX Holdings, is unfazed. “An additional source of crude oil will also lead to steady supplies,” he said.
According to Financial Tribune, Japanese companies can now make new gas and oil-related investments or acquire stakes in crude and natural gas development projects undertaken by Iran.
At Iranian oil plants and other installations, refurbishing work on aging facilities has stalled due to restricted exports of components from Japan, the US and Europe.
Trading house Itochu as well as major plant builders such as JGC, Chiyoda and Toyo Engineering are on the hunt for repair orders. Itochu may increase personnel at its Tehran office. Chiyoda plans to send permanent staff to the Iranian capital as soon as fiscal 2016.

As part of the British Council Researcher Links scheme, Imperial College London plans to hold workshop for participants from the UK and Iran. The workshop will be held at the Centre for Environmental Policy of Imperial College London, on 24-28 January 2016 and will be led by distinguished academics from both countries.
This event seeks to bring together 20-25 early career scholars and experienced researchers from the UK and Iran to hold an academic discussion on Water Management with sub-themes of hydrology, extreme events, agriculture and food security, climate change, and water management/policy.
The objective of the workshop is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge in both directions and the building of links for future collaboration. The workshop will include also sessions on how to find and apply for research grants, and pursue funding opportunities and research partnerships with scholars overseas.
Dr. Kaveh Madani, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management at Imperial College London who is also in charge of holding the workshop, told MNA correspondent that the objective of the workshop is to provide an opportunity for mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge between the Iranian and British researchers in the field of water management.
“The great enthusiasm shown for participating in the workshop especially among young Iranian researchers reveals my fellow colleagues’ keen and serious interest in acquiring the necessary and comprehensive knowledge to take on the various complex water problems,” he said.
The workshop will focus on topics including water security, food security, virtual water, drought management, risk management, water conflict management, and adaptation to climate change.
15 of the 30 participants in the workshop are Iranians who lead 13 universities and research centers in Iran.

In an interview with IRNA on Sunday, Robina Ather said, ‘So the time has come now that we will soon be initiating some discussion with the state bank on how we can proceed on the banking mechanism with Iran.’

The official said, ‘Pakistan Ministry of Commerce has always said that is ready to improve trade relations with Iran once the banking mechanism is established.’

She said the talks are going on regarding opening up of two more border crossing points at Iran-Pakistan border so as soon as the banking mechanism is established and some infrastructure is built over there, the trade activity could be enhanced.

“We have signed the convention on TIR (International Transport of Goods) and Tafatn would be the border post from where we could start our TIR and forward operations soon,” she said.

The Pakistani official said the figure of 5 billion dollars trade between Iran and Pakistan is easily achievable as it is based on some facts which include gas, energy and of course goods trade, but this will not happen in a few months but will take some years.

“I believe having trade of billions of dollars with Iran is not a dream, it is the reality on the ground and in the next few years we will be able to achieve that mark of 5 billion dollars,” she said.

The official said there is a sentiment in Pakistan that trade ties with Iran should be further enhanced, but at the political level some of decisions are difficult to take but for economic decisions of course ‘we always support strengthening of trade with Iran.’

The move was made because of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) implementation which has officially started on January 16 after the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano announced in a report that the agency verified Iran’s complete commitments to its obligations upon JCPOA, Sputnik reported.

‘In particular, beginning on Implementation Day, the following activities by non-U.S. persons are no longer sanctionable: Financial and banking transactions with individuals and entities set out in Attachment 3 to Annex II of the JCPOA, including: the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)and other specified Iranian financial institutions; the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), and other specified individuals and entities,’ the DoT said in one of the documents on Saturday.

The DoT’s measures also allow Iran to sell its oil to the third countries as well as to import civilian airliners.

According to a high-ranking representative of the administration of US President Barack Obama, the sanctions have been lifted from more than 400 individuals and entities, but some 200 people related to Iran will be on the sanction list.

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries comprising the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, signed the JCPOA. The agreement guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

“I welcome today’s announcement that Iran has met its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal,” said the Australian minister in a statement appeared on the country’s Foreign Ministry official website on Sunday.

“It is expected that sanctions on Iran, under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, will be lifted after the Security Council has received the IAEA report in coming days.

“The Australian Government will then move to lift relevant UN and certain autonomous sanctions, including economic sanctions.

“The easing of these sanctions will ensure that Australian business is not disadvantaged in pursuing opportunities in Iran.”

The Implementation Day started on January 16 when Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the EU Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini read a joint statement in Vienna, Austria, announcing the beginning of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The joint statement was read after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukyia Amano released a report on Saturday, confirming that Iran honored its commitments to the JCPOA.

Beginning of the JCPOA implementation will pave the way for removal of all sanctions against Iran.

However, Bishop added that Australia “will continue to enforce sanctions on military exports for five years, and maintain restrictions on ballistic missile-related materiel for eight years.”

The United States and the European Union lifted their economic sanctions against Iran over the country’s nuclear program on Saturday in return for Tehran’s progress in pulling back its nuclear program, Yonhap wrote.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim Bank) said it may upgrade Iran’s credit rating to C2 from C3, the sixth-highest on its nine-grade rating system.

A rating upgrade will increase the Exim Bank’s credit line to Iran, which came to US$60 million last year from $1.44 billion in 2011, the state lender said.

The Exim Bank forecast the lifting of international sanctions to help the Iranian economy grow in the mid-4 percent range this year.

Tehran is also expected to resume investment in oil and gas fields, placing orders worth $60 billion this year alone, the lender added.