Hamideh Zar Abadi, member of Iranian parliament industry and mine commission, did not reject the negotiations between Iranian car manufacturers and its Russian counterpart to import Lada cars.
Recently, a senior Russian official said that the country’s largest carmaker AvtoVaz is negotiating the assembly and sale of its cars in Iran, where there is massive pent-up demand for new automobiles, Hamideh Zar Abadi told Trend.
AvtoVaz, majority-owned by France’s Renault and its alliance partner Nissan, produces Russia’s best-selling Lada brand.
“For the next Iranian year (starts on March 21, 2020), we cannot count too much on joint ventures for imports in the automobile sector, given the problems that this industry has faced,” Hamideh Zar Abadi noted.
She cited two issues of industry in the coming year. First, it seems that the policy to ban car imports will continued in the next year, and second, all foreign affairs have been tied to the adopting FATF-related bills, she said.
“Other countries will consider these issues before becoming our business partner,” she added. “In the current year (started on March 21, 2019), we held similar negotiations with Renault, but they were abandoned as a result of the withdrawal of the United States from Nuclear Deal.Therefore, all this depends on the country’s conditions and the ratification of the FATF-related bills next year.” said.
“I confirm the talks (between Iranian and Russian car manufacturers),” Zar Abadi said. “They are under way, but the outcome depends on whether we can prove our transparency in the monetary and banking sector.”
“Similar proposals are offered to the country, and other countries send their economic and industrial delegations to establish business relations with Iran,” said Zar Abadi. “All the positive results are related to FATF.”
She went on to say, “FAFT had already set a deadline for Iran to join. By approaching it, Iran’s job will be harder and foreign trade partners will not enter Iranian market.”
“In every business relationship, transparency is a basic principle of monetary relations and banking. If our monetary and banking relationships won’t be transparent, they will not invest in Iran’s car industry,” she added.
Las week, Iran’s Assembly of Experts warned the legislative bodies to avoid approving the anti-money laundering FATF-related bills, calling joining the global watchdog a ‘strategic mistake.’
On Feb. 22, the global watchdog FATF welcomed Iran’s measures to strengthen its anti-money laundering legislation, giving the country an extended June deadline to complete the reforms.
The body maintained that financial institutions operating in Iran would face ‘increased international scrutiny’, should the country fail to take those measures before the extended deadline.
Iran has already ratified two of the amendment bills on the country’s domestic laws on money laundering and terrorism financing. However, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, known as Palermo Convention in Iran, as well as the bill on Iran’s accession to the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT), are the two controversial bills undergoing intensive reviews in the Expediency Council for the final verdict.
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© 2019 Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan)
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