Published January 28, 2016
The Latest on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Europe (all times local):
10:30 a.m.
France's Peugeot-Citroen has announced a joint venture with automaker Iran Khodro to make 200,000 cars a year outside Tehran, as both countries seek to boost trade after the lifting of Western sanctions.
Carlos Tavares, chairman of the PSA Peugeot-Citroen managing board, announced the deal Thursday during a visit to France by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
It will be a 50-50 joint venture, aiming to produce three new models of cars starting late next year.
Peugeot was a major player in Iran's car market before the sanctions were imposed, and the company said negotiations for this deal have been under way since before the sanctions were lifted.
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9:00 a.m.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is being formally welcomed to France at the gold-domed Invalides monument where Napoleon is buried.
While Rouhani arrived in Paris on Wednesday from Rome, the official French government greeting ceremony is being held Thursday morning.
Rouhani is also meeting Thursday with the chief of UNESCO, the Paris-based U.N. cultural body, and speaking to high-level French executives whose companies are interested in resuming trade with his long-isolated nation of 80 million people.
Later he and French President Francois Hollande will oversee a ceremony for signing about 20 bilateral accords.
The trip is an effort to usher in a new era after a landmark accord to curb Iran's nuclear program and lift Western sanctions. However, France is now weighing new sanctions over Iranian ballistic missile tests.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-latest-peugeot-citroen-iran-khodro-in-joint-venture