Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

An Iranian company holds talks with the German company Siemens on cooperation in the construction of wagons, Deputy Minister of Industry Mojtaba Hosrovtazh said.

If cooperation is successful, it will eliminate the need for imports of cars from Russia, said Hosrovtazh, Tasnim news agency reported.

For decades, Germany was Iran’s biggest European trade partner.

Siemens was the first major German company to agree on a deal with Iran this year, signing a memorandum of understanding worth up to 1.5 billion Euros ($1.6 billion) in early January to work on Iran's rail infrastructure.

German exports to Iran were valued at 4.7 billion Euros ($5.1 billion) in 2010 but have fallen as the West tightened sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program.

Hence, Iranian transport sector remains underdeveloped because of poor management and the impact of international sanctions.

Iran is the Middle East’s second-largest economy and is reported to be the largest to re-enter global markets since the Soviet Union in 1991.

With huge levels of transport and logistics investment planned or underway, Iran’s transport industry has the potential to become a major economic sector for the country.

Attractiveness for international finance in the transport industry is also on the rise. Iran jumped up 12 spots from rank 27 to 15 with the lifting of international sanctions on Transport Intelligence’s rankings for emerging markets in January 2016.

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