Italy has agreed to provide €4.8bn ($5.4bn) of export credit to support contractors and exporters working with Iran, during a visit by Italian premier Matteo Renzi.

National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGC) and Italy’s Eni also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), one of many signed.

State-owned Casa Depositi e Prestiti will offer a €4bn export credit line. It will support major Italian companies working as contractors and suppliers on important projects in infrastructure, oil and gas, and transport.

This will be guaranteed by export credit agency Sace and Simest, a fund which provides foreign investment for Italian companies, to stabilise the interest rates.

Sace will also offer small and medium enterprises (SMEs) €500m of trade finance and a €300m credit line with the Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

This follows Iran’s repayment of €564m owed to Sace due to sanctions. Italy and Iran were major trading partners before sanctions were ramped up in 2012.

Sace will also support SMEs working with three private-sector Iranian banks, Bank Pasargad, Bank Parsian and Saman Bank.

Simest will look for further investments in Iran, and help Italian firms seeking local partners for joint ventures.

In January, Italy’s Danieli Group signed agreements with a value of about €5.7bn for the supply of plants and machinery for steel production in Iran, with a $2bn joint venture. This was during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to Italy.

Saipem also signed an MoU in January covering two refineries.

State-owned Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) is studying €5bn of rail projects in Iran, while Anas International Enterprise (AIE) is studying a 1,500-kilometre road corridor.

Italy’s Pessina Costruzioni has signed an initial agreement to build five hospitals in Iran.

The Italian effort compares to a $5bn export finance agreement between Iran and South Korea, and a £50m ($71m) credit line from UK Export Finance.

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