Kazakhstan could boost car, truck production to 300,000 vehicles a year
ASTANA. April 16 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and New Technologies is set to adopt a development strategy for the domestic automotive industry aimed at assembly and production of 300,000 vehicles a year, has said First Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies Albert Rau.
"Our principal objective is to produce 300,000 vehicles annually. We take a number of factors into consideration including the domestic market capacity. This task is ambitious but quite achievable," Rau told a Wednesday round conference table in Astana that addresses issues of the development of the domestic automotive industry.
Rau said the strategic goal is cooperation with foreign companies. At the same time the strategy aims to increase gradually the number of locally produced vehicles so that they reach 50% of the total output. Rau said that automotive components produced in Russia and Belarus would also be counted as locally produced.
Kazakhstan produced 19,094 cars in 2012, up 130% from 2011 and 1,747 trucks, up 90%.
Kazakhstan's largest car producer is Asia Auto in East Kazakhstan region. The company assembles Niva, Skoda, KIA and Chevrolet cars from ready-made parts. The country also has several Russian Kamaz truck assembly plants.
