Iran plans to ship 2000 cars to Venezuela as per countries' agreement

• 

An Iranian trade official said on Wednesday that Iran plans to send an additional 2,000 cars to Venezuela, marking further progress in the two countries' commercial relations developing beyond energy. 

Last week, the first shipment of 1,000 Saina and Quik models made by the Iranian company SADRA left the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran to be shipped to Venezuela. 

At the moment the cars were sent to the port, a ceremony was launched during which the Venezuelan Minister of Transport Ramón Velásquez was attending.

"We agreed to export more than 100,000 cars from Iran to Venezuela within five years," head of the Americas bureau of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran Zahra Abiri said in remarks published Wednesday.

#VíaAlterna @CatirrusiaV:
Los vehículos Quick y Saina son parte de los acuerdos que conforman el convenio Venezuela Irán #VamosALaFilven2022 #YoSoyDeAqui pic.twitter.com/Uir1hX30vt

— RNV Informativa (@RNVinformativa) November 14, 2022

The two countries share a similar history of enduring excruciating sanctions by the US and its allies. 

Iran frequently delivers fuel to Venezuela and often helps it sell its oil abroad as Iran possesses the necessary refineries to turn crude oil into high-value consumer products such as gas.

Venezuela's refinery industry has severely been devastated by US sanctions which degraded its maintenance performance and secure spare parts compounded by a ban on diluent imports - chemicals needed to dilute crude oil into usable petroleum products like diesel and gasoline. 

In February this year, the two countries' announced that direct flights between Tehran and Caracas will become operational starting August.

In June, the two countries' leaders concluded a 20-year cooperation plan to expand joint cooperation in various sectors, such as oil, banking, and the economy.

So far, the next two years of the agreement have been already planned, Abiri said. 

"Iran and Venezuela are under US sanction.  Both of them are members of OPEC and can cooperate effectively to neutralize the sanctions," she said.

"Venezuela has more than 33 million hectares of arable land with plenty of water," she added, suggesting that Iran can benefit from the latter in the aim of improving its food security.

The trade official further said that the deal will assist Venezuela with improving Venezuela's electricity systems, provide it with some of the most vital medicines, and encourage the exchange of scientific cooperation with more than 40 Iranian companies now based in Venezuela.

Yesterday, the managing director of Iran powerplant repairs company, Masoud Moradi, announced that Venezuela has signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran to help recover 10,000 megawatts of powerplants in a bid to recover from its constant blackouts and lack of maintenance due to the heavy impact of US sanctions. 

Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, considers it of capital importance to recover the infrastructures of the power grid and the oil industry. 

By 2025, Maduro plans to invest an estimated $1.5 billion to rebuild the country’s generation system which has the capacity to produce roughly 32,000 megawatts of electricity.

The country's power grid heavily relies on the Guri hydroelectric facility which produces as much as 80% of the power.

But the sanctions have caused to be ravaged by years of mismanagement.

Read more: Iran, Venezuela cooperating on energy, science & technology