By Olga Belyavskaya
The Hanoi opening ceremony for the new branch of Minsk’s Automobile Works was attended by Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich. He noted prospects for the further expansion of MAZ, in collaboration with Vietnamese partners — including Veam. He asserted, “I think that projects dealing with the creation of factories, as discussed by us here, will be implemented, producing automobile machinery and engines.”
The plants’ goods are to be sold on the Vietnamese market, and exported across South-East Asia. “It’s a huge market, worth around $1.5 trillion annually,” underlined Mr. Myasnikovich. He stressed the necessity of expanding production of Belarusian machinery in Vietnam, developing partnerships with large international companies. In this respect, he is hopeful of forming a transnational corporation to produce automobile machinery, involving manufacturers from Belarus, Vietnam and Germany.
“We should set up joint large transnational corporations, which would work on our markets and on those of third countries,” stressed the Prime Minister of Belarus confidently. He asked the business circles of Vietnam to actively join such projects. “Only in this way can we win under conditions of global competition,” underlined Mr. Myasnikovich.
Developing co-operation with Belarus, Vietnam is entering our domestic market, as well as those of the Customs Union and the Single Economic Space. “Actually, you’re gaining duty-free trade with our countries,” the PM added. A unique opportunity is being created to form a zone of free trade between the Customs Union and Vietnam and, in future, between the Customs Union and South-East Asian countries.
