Iran’s Saipa awarded deal to manufacture cars in Venezuela

Iran’s second largest car manufacturer Saipa will launch new models in Venezuela under a deal signed between the company and Venezuelan government authorities.

According to Press TV, Saipa’s PR office said in a Tuesday report that the company’s CEO Mohammad Ali Teimouri and visiting Venezuelan Transport Minister Ramón Blázquez had signed a cooperation deal earlier in the day in a meeting held in the headquarters of Saipa in western Tehran.

It said the deal was focused on joint manufacturing of cars in Venezuela where Iranian carmakers have previously contributed to various projects.

Teimouri said Saipa will export 1,000 complete cars to Venezuela under a first phase of the deal signed with the Venezuelan Transportation Ministry.

He said the company will then supply parts and equipment to Venirauto, a Venezuelan automotive company where Saipa and Iran’s largest carmaker the IKCO own shares, to start assembling new models in the plant.

Iran and Venezuela have been seeking closer economic and energy ties in recent years in a bid to offset the impacts of American sanctions on their economies.

Iranian companies have provided Venezuela with key equipment and technology needed in the country’s oil sector in the past. Iran has also supplied fuel to Venezuela to help the country cope with shortages caused by US sanctions.

Bilateral ties between Iran and Venezuela deepened further in June after a visit to Tehran by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in which the two countries signed dozens of documents to expand their cooperation.  

ME