| Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who arrived in Egypt yesterday on a working visit, will try to help Russian automakers sell their products in this North African country. As a source in the Russian delegation told RIA Novosti yesterday, “the issue of assembling the VAZ-2110 in Egypt is currently being worked out, a contract has already been prepared with the Egyptian side for the production of Gazelles, and UAZ is ready to conclude a contract for the assembly of a thousand UAZ-3162 SUVs. It is expected that during the visit the corresponding document will be signed.”
Since 2002, AvtoVAZ has already been supplying vehicle kits to Egypt for assembling the VAZ-2107. The production of the “sevens” was organized by Amal Foreign Trade Co near Cairo at a plant where Japanese SUVs Suzuki Swift and Suzuki Vitara were previously assembled. The contract ends in 2005 - by this time it was planned to assemble 4.5 thousand "sevens", but this year only 2 thousand cars will be assembled. In March of this year, the management of AvtoVAZ signed an agreement with Amal Foreign to develop a project for the production in Egypt of cars of the “tenth” VAZ family, and subsequently VAZ-2111 and VAZ-2112. The AvtoVAZ public relations center confirmed yesterday that the plant had been conducting lengthy negotiations with Amal Foreign Trade Co for a long time, saying that the Egyptian side had long been announcing the need for the production of “dozens” and even announced plans to supply 1000 vehicle kits. “However, due to recent changes in Egyptian legislation, import duties on finished cars have sharply decreased, and now it is more profitable for us to export not vehicle kits, but cars already assembled in Russia,” explained AvtoVAZ Deputy Director of Public Relations Alexander Gromkov. Thus, the question of starting assembly remains open for now.
The press service of the Ruspromavto company (which includes GAZ) announced the opening of an assembly plant for the production of Gazelles at the beginning of this year at the end of last year. The company assured that an agreement of intent was signed with a private Egyptian company, the name of which has not yet been disclosed. However, the enterprise was never created. GAZ press secretary Sergei Lugovoy confirmed yesterday that negotiations with Egypt on organizing the production of Gazelles have been going on for several years, but, according to him, a final decision has not yet been made. GAZ refused to discuss the parameters of the project while negotiations are ongoing.
The Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant outlined its intentions to enter the Egyptian market only in July last year. As Andrey Dorofeev, his director of marketing and sales, reported then, production for the assembly of UAZ-3160 and UAZ-3162 in the amount of from 500 to a thousand. cars are planned for the third quarter of 2004.
Zoya Kaika, director of external relations at Severstal-Auto (the main owner of UAZ), said yesterday that if previously the import duty on UAZ-3162 was 200% of the cost of the car, now it has been reduced to 50%. However, since this level at UAZ was considered insufficient, the company continues to “consider the possibilities of organizing assembly in Egypt,” she noted. According to Ms. Kaiki, the start of the assembly project in Egypt is scheduled for the first quarter of next year. As explained at UAZ, the company's management considers Egypt as a springboard for entering the markets of other African countries - Sudan, Libya, Chad. Yana GODOVANAYA
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