TEHRAN – Implementation of a program for indigenizing the knowledge for the production of industrial parts and equipment has saved Iran $2.2 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22), according to the Deputy Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Mehdi Sadeqi Niaraki.

Speaking in the fifth meeting of the auto industry domestic production promotion desk on Tuesday, Niaraki said the Industry Ministry plans to indigenize the knowledge for the production of $3.4 billion worth of equipment and machinery in the current Iranian calendar year (ends in March 2022).

Held at the place of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) in Tehran, the mentioned desk meeting was attended by officials and company representatives from the country’s auto industry.

Niaraki noted that last year the ministry put the indigenization of $3.5 billion worth of industrial equipment and parts on the agenda of which over $2 billion or 70 percent was realized.

Based on the mentioned program the country’s industrial units sign deals with domestic manufacturers to meet their technological and equipment needs.

Further, during the mentioned desk meeting, IDRO Head Mohsen Salehi-Nia mentioned the achievements of the previous auto industry desks and noted that more than 220 trillion rials worth of deals have been signed for the indigenization of equipment and parts in the previous domestic production promotion desks for the auto industry.

“The mentioned desks have managed to save the country over €56 million annually,” Salehi-Nia stressed.

The program for holding domestic production promotion desks has been defined by the government to supply products, equipment, and machinery needed in various industrial fields using the capacities of the domestic producers and to increase self-sufficiency in the mentioned areas.

Back in 2019 when the program was officially launched, the Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister at the time, Reza Rahmani, had said that relying on domestic production was going to save $10 billion for the country in two years.

In October 2019, Leader of Islamic Revolution Seyed Ali Khamenei had urged government officials to ban the import of goods that are also produced domestically.

EF/MA