TEHRAN, Aug. 07 (MNA) – Iran has begun construction of an automobile manufacturing plant in the neighborhood of Neftçala industrial zone located in Azerbaijan Republic.

Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade and the Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan Republic Shahin Mustafayev inked an agreement for establishment of an auto factory in Azerbaijan.

Iran’s Nematzadeh called for effective use of existing opportunities in the ties between the two countries saying “in recent years, cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan has reached high levels in all spheres and the achievement has been made possible by political will of the two sides’ governments.”

The official voiced readiness to train employees of the car factory as well as to supply the necessary capital for the project; “accordingly, the automobile production line in Neftçala will become operational within nine months.”

The Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mustafayev, for his part, pointed to positive experience of interactions between the two countries stressing the need to continue and escalate bilateral relations.

He also expressed satisfaction with the building of an Iranian automobile production plant in his country.

It is worth mentioning that the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had issued the permit for construction of the automotive production line last year in 2015.

The car production plant will cover an area of 10 hectares with an annual production capacity of 10,000 cars and while creating 300 new jobs, it is supposed to produce Iranian automaker IKCO's Dena, Rana, Samand and Soren automobiles in complete knock-down (CKD) format.

By Mehr News Agency