Delegation from Egypt headed by Ibraghim Kamal, President and Director General of TACOAROMATIC Company visited KAMAZ Inc. in March. The entrepreneurs have visited some of KAMAZ Inc.’s divisions, including KAMAZ-Diesel Inc., Assembly Plant, Passenger Car Plant, Frame-and-Stamping Plant. They also have been introduced the latest developments of R&D.

During negotiations with KAMAZ management there were discussed various issues of mutually beneficial cooperation, and in particular possibility of launching in Egypt of a KAMAZ truck assembly plant from CKD parts. The meeting resulted in signing of the Protocol of Intentions, which officially marks start of a joint work. Till the end of March the Egyptian side is intending to carry out a market survey in order to specify which models of KAMAZ trucks will be on demand at their market, and also to assess possible production volumes.

After the negotiations the guests have been briefly interviewed and answered the questions of local reporters:

- What are your impressions on KAMAZ Inc., and how perspective is the joint project?

Ibraghim Kamal, President and Director General of TAKOAROMATIC company:

-I am glad we have visited one of the most important industrial enterprises of Russia. If I were to live in Tatarstan, I would be very proud that KAMAZ Inc. is situated in this wonderful republic. Your company is manufacturing a good product. One can see that the enterprise is currently under modernization, and that advanced technologies are being introduced at the production facilities of KAMAZ Inc. No doubt that there will be a success. I think that Director General of KAMAZ Inc. is one of the most capable managers of Russia. For a long time there have been good relationships between the two of our countries both in politics and economics and our visit is still another prove to this.

General Mostafa Mohammed Hassan Husein, Chairman of AAV (Arab-American Vehicle Company) in Egypt:

-I agree that everybody who lives here should be proud of the Company we’ve been given a chance to see. One can say it’s a Russian Detroit. Of course, one day is not enough to see much at such a large enterprise. But even a brief visit allowed us to see a well organized production processes and faces of happy people who are doing their best to improve quality of goods. Director General and staff of the Company can set an example of a proper cooperation between management and employees. We hope to get all possible assistance while launching a KAMAZ truck assembly plant in Egypt.

-What models are you most interested in?

-First of all, we would like to assemble those truck models that are most suitable for the army. These are primarily 7-10t payload vehicles. Later, we can expand our cooperation and start assembling municipality vehicles. Next stage will be manufacturing vehicles for export from Egypt to the nearest countries. We trust to Russian products, to products of KAMAZ Inc.

-How do you estimate this visit results?

-It’s a good start. There was signed the Protocol of Intentions, which I hope to become the bullet point in our program. Immediately after we are back in Egypt, we will start surveying technical and finance issues to know and feel the situation properly, and to be able to forecast successful results.

Ibraghim Kamal’, the head of Egyptian delegation, thanked KAMAZ management for hospitality and expressed his hope that one day they would be able to visit Cairo.

Friday, 19 March 2004