Baku, Azerbaijan, May 6
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran has signed a memorandum of understanding with Philip Morris International, an American multinational cigarette and tobacco manufacturing company, to jointly produce Marlboro cigarettes.
The deal was signed between Iranian Tobacco Company and Pishgaman Pakhsh Arman Gostar, the multinational company’s representative in Iran, Mehr news agency reported.
Marlboro accounts for a significant share of cigarettes smuggled into Iran. So, the Iranian administration permitted to the country’s private sector to obtain licence from Philip Morris to import and jointly produce the cigarettes.
Nader Qazipour, member of Iranian parliament’s industry commission, said that the MoU was signed last week in the presence of Iran’s industry minister and ministry’s high-ranking officials.
He added that once the permission for cooperation is issued and deal comes into force, the technology for domestically production of Marlboro cigarettes will be transferred to Iran.
Meanwhile Ali Asghar Ramzi, the head of Iranian Tobacco Planning and Supervision Center, said that the preliminary work for issuing the licence has begun, expressing hope that permission for cooperation will be issued soon.
“The administrative procedures for issuing permits have been carried out carefully due to the sensitivity of the issue and we hope that it will soon be concluded without any problems,” Ramzi added.
Earlier in 2014 Iranian MPs summoned the industry, mine, and trade ministers over the case of Marlboro cigarettes imports, claiming that Philip Morris had ties with Israel.
However, the then minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh defended decision of issuing license for imports of Marlboro cigarettes to prevent smuggling, saying that after investigations it was clarified that the issue of ties between Israel and Philip Morris Company is not true.
Marlboro is the biggest selling brand of cigarettes in the world. In 2015, Iranian MP Hossein Tala said that 16 varieties of Marlboro were consumed in Iran.
According to the Iranian media, 6-7 billion Marlboro cigarettes are annually used in Iran which translates into imports of three truckloads per week.
About 55 billion cigarettes are smoked in Iran annually.
