Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran and French Peugeot joint venture will be officially launched as of late April, an Iranian deputy industrial minister said.
Iran Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohsen Salehinia, has said that the joint venture will be operational following the appointment of the board members, CEO, middle managers as well as supervisors of other sectors, Mehr news agency reported.
According to the report, the joint venture will lure foreign investment into the country, and it will also create new job opportunities.
One of the first post-sanctions contracts to be signed between an Iranian and a foreign company was a contract between major Iranian car manufacturer Iran-Khodro and the French Peugeot.
The deal envisages the production of three models of Peugeot in Iran through 50-50 venture.
Iran-Khodro has been manufacturing two models of Peugeot for several years, so much so that these two models have become prototypical cars in the minds of many Iranians.
The company started manufacturing Peugeot 405 around the year 2000. The production still continues. A few years later it added Peugeot 206 to its products, which is also still being manufactured. The Iranian "national vehicle" Samand is also a reshaped Peugeot 405.
Peugeot had left Iran in 2011 following the Western imposed sanctions on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.
Iran Khodro officials say that the company has set punitive contracts for the French company for halting its activity in Iran. According to Iran, Khodro Peugeot is obliged to pay 200 million euros in compensation.