Reporting "Asre Khodro", The agreement was signed by a consortium of four Iranian and foreign companies on the sidelines of an Iran-EU trade and investment conference which opened in Vienna on Thursday, TUVPR Managing Director Seyyed Mojtaba Mirsoheil said.

A second contract was also inked to create a “power train, fuel and emission certification technical center” in Iran, Mirsoheil added.

It includes the transfer of technology, design and commissioning of the production line and application of three-cylinder power train in Iranian vehicles.

An initial version of the engine with 122 horsepower and a six-speed automatic gearbox will be installed on a mass-produced Iranian car on Friday, TUVPR said in a statement on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

The plan, it said, will lead to a transformational change in the Iranian auto industry in the next two years and significantly cut fuel consumption and air pollutants.

“With the launch of the production line of this power train family and its application in local vehicles, up to 15 billion liters of fuel will be saved with the production of four million cars in the next 10 years,” the statement added.  

The signing marks the first formal announcement of an Iranian and European tie-up after years of estrangement between the two sides under sanctions.

It came as officials from Iran, Germany, France, Austria, UK and other countries gathered in Vienna for a two-day conference to discuss post-sanction opportunities for cooperation.

Deputy Economy Minister Mohammad Khazaei told the conference that the Iranian government had already granted license for more than $2 billion of projects with the Europeans. 

Intensified sanctions obliterated trade worth $35 billion a year between Iran and the Europeans.

Recent finalization of nuclear negotiations with Iran has triggered a race among European political and business leaders for sending delegations to Tehran in search of new business prospects.

Source: presstv.ir