BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/08/2006

Iran inaugurates `Samand' car assembly line in Belarus

An assembly line for Iranian `Samand' cars was inaugurated in Unison Company in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, on Saturday in the presence of Iranian Minister of Mines and Industries Alireza Tahmasbi.

"Iran Khodro Industrial Group, the biggest car manufacturing company in the Middle East, had mapped out plans for entering East European markets since five years ago," Tahmasbi said while addressing the inaugural ceremony.

"Iran Khodro had been looking for the right company to carry its products in Europe and launched cooperation with Belarussia's Unison Company taking into account the country's valuable car manufacturing experience," he added.

The minister predicted the car assembly line would boost the annual volume of trade exchanges between Iran and Belarus to 100 million dollars.

"Iran's Ministry of Mines and Industries is determined to expand its industrial cooperation with Belarus and produce different models of Samand and other products of the company in Belarus for domestic consumption as well as export to other countries of the region." He called on officials of Unison Company to initiate moves by which Belarussian people can effectively regard Samand as their national car.

Belarussian Minister of Industry Anatoly Rusetskiv, for his part, stressed the importance of bolstering economic ties with Iran, and added that the two countries currently have several joint projects for cooperation.

Besides Tahmasbi and Rusetskiv, the Iranian ambassador to Belarus and managing directors of Iran Khodro and Unison Companies attended the inaugural ceremony.

With a population of over 10 million people, Belarus is located in northeastern Europe.

Source:

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-237/0608125102125618.htm