Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has sent a letter to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, inviting Iran to take part in Expo 2015.
Berlusconi officially invited the Islamic Republic to participate in the international event, which will be held in the Italian city of Milan from May 1 to October 31, 2015, IRNA reported on Friday.
The theme of the six-month expo is "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" and its venue covers an area of 1.1 million square meters.
Over 120 countries will showcase their achievements and products at Expo 2015. The previous edition of the event was held in Shanghai in 2010.
Italy increased its oil imports from Iran by 80.6 percent in 2010 despite the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its civilian nuclear program.
Data published by Italy's industry group Unione Petrolifera said that Iran's crude supplies accounted for 13.3 percent of Italy's total oil imports.
Iran, the fourth-biggest oil supplier to Italy, exported 10.377 million tons of oil to the European country in 2010.
Italy's oil imports increased by 2.2 percent to reach 77.893 million tons last year, the data showed. Italy is heavily dependent on energy imports since it has no energy reserves.