Tehran, Iran, Sept. 14
Trend:
Iran seeks to find new foreign partners in auto industry, while the Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade has announced French auto makers are no longer have a place in the country due to violation of the contracts.
"It should not be ignore that Renault and Peugeot have treated us badly and their behavior was in contrary to commitments and trade ties," said Reza Rahmani, Trend reports citing ILNA.
"If the sanctions are lifted, they have no place here. They have previously left despite 10-year contract. We would find better foreign partners in future," he noted.
"There should be discussion with progressive [foreign] auto makers, but it should be win-win. For example, Renault was the partner of our two major auto makers, and there was no rival company," he added.
The Minister has emphasized that the country seeks to produce vehicles of high quality in cooperation with foreign companies.
"There are many companies that can work in our country, but the interests of two sides should be considered in order to produce high quality products," he said.
"Although it is not possible for some companies like Toyota to be in the country, there have been talks with some other companies. Auto makers are mostly located in Italy and Germany," he indicated.
"By cooperation and using domestic capacities, newly produced autos can be exported, while the cooperation has to be established under two conditions: use of domestic capacities and foreign company's commitment to exports products," he added.
Iran's Parliament inspects the issue of auto contracts violations that involves foreign companies and it seeks for compensation; however, no report has been released so far about it.
"The issue of contracts has been discussed and the complaint has been filed legally, so we will definitely get the compensation from foreign companies," Rahmani said.
