TEHRAN- Iran has achieved 80 percent self-sufficiency in manufacturing of auto parts, Iranian Auto Parts Makers Association Maziar Beyglou said in a TV program on Saturday.

The official expressed hope that self-reliance in this sector reaches 90 percent through domestic production of required raw materials, Mehr news agency reported.

He also said that through setting up three desks on self-reliance the auto part industry has already managed to indigenize manufacturing of 99 auto parts.

Domestic parts manufacturers are able to play a key role in creating a boom in the country's manufacturing and employment sectors, in addition to playing their leading role as the auto industry’s intermediates, Beyglou said two weeks ago, while announcing that 40,000 workers who were dismissed by the country’s auto parts makers have been re-employed following a boom in the auto industry.

He noted that if the current production trend continues, “we will expect an increase in the automotive industry’s production next year.”

Mentioning the industry ministry’s strategies for promoting domestic production, the official said: “Following the current policies, we will see the production of a number of new vehicles from domestic automakers in the coming years.”

Last month, the Specialized Manufactures of Auto Parts Association announced that Iranian carmakers have prepared some incentive packages to encourage investment making by the auto parts manufacturers.

Also during the TV program on Saturday regrading domestic production of auto parts, Mehdi Sadeqi Niaraki, the acting director of the industry department of Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, said, “The policies of government and Industry Ministry are all in line with supporting domestic production and all necessary laws and regulations including those on tariffs are to strengthen domestic production to achieve more self-sufficiency”.

In last May, Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani issued a directive on “strengthening domestic manufacturing of imported auto parts”.

Addressing two of his deputies, Farshad Moqimi, deputy for industrial affairs, and Mohammad-Baqer Ali, the board chairman of Iran’s Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), the minister put emphasis on using the highest potential of human resources for strengthening domestic manufacturing of auto parts which are currently imported to the country.

Highlighting the orders of the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on supporting production in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21, 2019), which is named the year of “Pickup in Production” by the supreme leader, Rahmani stressed that cooperation among all car makers, auto part manufacturers, knowledge-based companies and enterprises is vital for strengthening domestic manufacturing of imported auto parts.

This movement should be all-out promoted to combat sanctions and also prevent from exit of foreign currency from the country, the minister noted.

MA/MA