Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:
Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari has described Azerbaijan as a proper place for automotive and car part manufacturing industries.
“I believe that automotive and spare parts manufacturing industries are capable of developing in Azerbaijan,” the minister told Trend.
He further expressed hope that a joint Iran-Azerbaijan venture for producing cars will be inaugurated soon in Azerbaijan.
The car plant is being built in Azerbaijan’s Neftchala Industrial Site on the basis of an agreement signed with Iranian leading automobile manufacturer Iran Khodro, with a nominal capacity of 10,000 units per year.
Iran exported $1.6 million worth of car parts to Azerbaijan in the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Dec. 21).
About 1,200 car part makers are actively contributing to the industry in Iran and they sold worth of $8 billion of products over the last fiscal year.
The Islamic Republic imported $2.794 billion worth of car parts, making 7.4 percent of the country’s overall imports in the 9-month period. The figure indicates a 113 percent rise year-on-year. Iran also exported 1,891 passenger cars during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
SAIPA, Iran’s second biggest carmaker, has echoed plans to expand cooperation in the automotive industry with Azerbaijan.
“We have put on agenda the issue of long-term cooperation with Azerbaijan and will definitely expand out cooperation with the neighboring country in the automotive sector,” CEO of SAIPA Mohsen Qasem-Jahroudi has told Trend.
Over the first nine months of the current Iranian year (starting March 20), SAIPA was the second largest producer of the country after Iran Khodro producing 261,100 passenger cars, indicating a jump of 16.7 percent year on year.
