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Italian President Giorgio Napolitano lays a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem Holocaust museum which commemorates the six million Jewish Holocaust victims killed by the Nazis during World War II, in Jerusalem on November 25, 2008.
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JERUSALEM (EJP)---Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said that the fact that his country has economic and commercial ties with Iran “does not mean that we are not doing our part in the UN's sanctions."
Napolitano, who started Tuesday a three-day visit to Israel at the head of a delegation of some 100 Italian business leaders, confirmed in an interview with Yediot Aharonoth newspaper that Italy does have important economic relations with Iran, “similar to its ties with other countries in the Middle East."
He added: "Italy is also aware of Israel's concerns in regards to Iran and shares the efforts being exerted as part of the UN Security Council resolutions, in order to limit the development options of the Iranian nuclear plan and prevent Tehran from shifting to military nuclear production."
After Germany, Italy is Iran's most important trading partner in the European Union.
The value of Italy's trade with Iran reached 1.4 billion euros between January and August this year, according to the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade. This is an increase of 27 percent from the same period in 2007.
On Tuesday, Napolitano and Italian President Shimon Peres are scheduled to launch an Israeli-Italian authors' dialogue in Jerusalem.
"The cultural dialogue between Italy and Israel goes down deeply. Italians admire the new Israeli culture," Napolitano said.
Also on Tuesday, the Italian president visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem where he laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance which commemorates the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.
