Minsk Automobile Works to launch joint facilities in Venezuela and Indonesia

By Nikolay Yefremov

Minsk Automobile Works to launch joint facilities in Venezuela and Indonesia

This year, MAZ has opened joint ventures in Poland and Vietnam and, by late 2014, joint facilities are planned for Mongolia and Ecuador. In addition, the enterprise aims to increase its exports beyond Russia and Ukraine, by 25 percent.

From January-September, it registered growth of 15 percent, almost doubling supplies to the Arab region, thanks to the launch of a MAZ office in the UAE. This year, the first sales were made to Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, while a newly opened joint bus assembly facility in Vietnam is enabling the Belarusian company to triple exports. South-East Asia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are progressing as sales markets, while that of Indonesia is being mastered.

In 2014, MAZ sold 100 passenger vehicles to the European Union and, next year, plans to export 300-500 items of passenger and cargo machinery.

“Our mastering of the European market is due to our good relations with European suppliers of materials and components, alongside new design developments, including EURO-6 engines,” explains MAZ’s Deputy General Director for Foreign Trade, Vitaly Goncharik. 

He views the CIS (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) and Africa as among the most promising markets. MAZ already exports to 16 African countries, recently opening representations in Nigeria and the SAR.