By Anatoly Shevelev
Mr. Semashko referred to agreements reached during his negotiations with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Arkady Dvorkovich. Belarus’ First Deputy Prime Minister mentioned President Lukashenko’s annual State of the Nation Address to the Belarusian People and the National Assembly, in which he expressed his desire to see MAZ and KamAZ join forces, under careful conditions. Mr. Semashko noted that Belarus has no desire to sell MAZ — a vital company — preferring to create a holding to reinforce the potential of these two giants of the automobile industry, especially their export potential. By merging their design, production and marketing capacities, costs will be reduced at the Minsk Automobile Works and at Kama Automobile Works. This will enable them to more successfully compete against world leaders within the Single Economic Space of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
“Within five years, we should see both MAZ and KamAZ having increased their production and sales, allowing us to return to talks on the transfer of shares into property or some other form of integration for the two enterprises,” added Mr. Semashko.
He views MAZ as a dynamic enterprise with good management and sales figures and an excellent future. The Single Economic Space and Russia’s joining of the WTO will support MAZ/KamAZ integration — particularly on the Russian market. Mr. Semashko expects to see details elaborated within a month, developing a statute for the holding and an agreement on the transfer of MAZ and KamAZ shares, under fiduciary management, to a new structure.
