​The Iranian carmaker Saipa struck a deal with French counterpart Citroen to build cars in Iran.  Participating in the signing ceremony were Iranian Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Saipa CEO Mehdi Jamali, and Jean Christophe Quemar, member of the managing board of the French automaker. The cooperation will be based on a 50-50 framework, under which Saipa and Citroen each will equally have three representatives in the managing board of the joint company. “Today, a framework deal was struck between Saipa Group and Citroen, and the final contract will be inked in two months,” said Industry Minister Nematzadeh, speaking to the press on the sidelines of the session. According to him, the deal is an agreement between the two carmakers and the Industry Ministry has only played its policy-making role: “the contract has taken care of all dimensions such as transfer of technology, designing, engineering, and exports. This is the second partnership between Iranian and French companies following the implementation of the JCPOA and we hope this will continue in the long-term.” The industry minister further stated, “the cooperation will lead to the production of new cars and we hope the first of these will be available on the market in less than two years from now. Under the agreement, Citroen and its Iranian partner will introduce three models.” Also, Siapa CEO Jamali told the press that it took one year for the sides to come up with the agreement. According to Jamali, fifty percent of Saipa Kashan, a subsidiary of Saipa Group, was divested to the French carmaker to form the joint partnership: “The contract includes spare part manufacturing, designing, and development activities, all inside the country. Thirty percent of products will be exported. The first model will be introduced to the market by the end of 2017.”  Talking about the joint financing of the project, the Saipa CEO remarked that initial investment will be 300 million euros ($330 million), equally funded by Saipa and Citroen. Products to be introduced were agreed to be the latest ones designed by Citroen, meaning that part of the products will be initially introduced through the Citroen sales grid: “that which model will be introduced through the grid is yet to be finalized.” Regarding the share of domestic production in such cooperation frameworks, Jamali reminded that at initial stages 40 percent of products should be manufactured domestically, and in three years, that will rise to 70 percent: “we hope we can meet conditions set by the industry ministry as well as expectation of our nation.”