Iran Khodro, the country’s largest automaker aims to quadruple to 60,000 the number of cars it assembles each year in a venture with the Venezuelan government in a sign of deepening commercial ties with Venezuela.

Mr Yaser Seifvand export deputy of Iran Khodro’s said that at his company’s headquarters outside Tehran that the South American plant’s current annual output is 16,000 vehicles, Seifvand.

Mr Abdolazim Sadian Iran Khodro’s deputy CEO responsible for exports said that “We are still at the initial stage and need to reach our full potential at this site in Venezuela. We have suggested a plan and are waiting for feedback from the other party.”

Mr Sadian declined to quantify the amount of investment needed for Venirauto to boost production, saying that the JV’s owners were in talks about this. Mr Sadian and Mr Seifvand did not specify the respective shareholdings in the car assembly project which the two countries set up in 2006.

Iran’s ties with Venezuela have intensified since Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first took office in 2005. Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and both have argued in recent years for higher crude oil prices. Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez favor populist economic policies and have used their nations’ oil wealth to pay for social programs benefiting the poor.

(Sourced from Iran Focus)