Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced that Iran has joined the world cement exporters club after building numerous cement factories across the country. "Today our country has become a main exporter of cement," said Ahmadinejad at a ceremony held to inaugurate the second phase of a cement factory in Orumieh, Northwestern Iran. "By launching the second phase of Orumieh cement factory, Iran’s cement production capacity has increased by one million tonne," he said. Iran had also launched two new cement factories in the provinces of West Azarbaijan and Golestan. One of the two factories was the Khoy cement production plant, which has cost the country 140 million dollars and has the capacity to produce more than one million tonne of cement each year. The other one, Galikesh cement factory, build at a cost of about 165 million dollars, has the capacity to produce more than 3,400 tonne of cement per day.