Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Uzbekistan and Belarus have experience in the further creation of joint ventures and the development of mutual trade in the field of mechanical engineering.

The company GM Uzbekistan has sent the first batch of vehicles for export to Belarus on April 3, Podrobno.uz. reports. Nexia R3 and R4 models will be exported to Belarus.

Previously, the company has already exported Nexia R3 cars for a large-unit assembly at the "SaryarkaAvtoProm" plant in Kostanay (Kazakhstan), as well as the finished R4 model at "Ravon Motors Kazakhstan".

Since the beginning of 2018, Uzbekistan has exported cars to Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

GM Uzbekistan and SaryarkaAvtoProm LLP (Kazakhstan) signed a production development contract. The parties within the framework of the document have agreed to release up to the end of 2019 16,000 vehicles intended for sale, both in the market of Kazakhstan and in export markets, including Russia.

In addition, automakers discussed the creation of a joint venture, phased work to deepen localization, including on the automotive component base, continued cooperation on new competitive models, measures to improve the quality of products.

At the Kazakh enterprise "SaryarkaAvtoProm", the SKD assembly of the Ravon Nexia R3 sedan was launched in 2017. It's capacity assembly is about 3,000 cars a year, with the possible increase in production of up to 7,000 cars.

GM Uzbekistan, formerly known as UzDaewooAuto, was created in 1996 on a parity basis by Uzbekistan and South Korean Daewoo Motors.

In 2005, Uzbekistan acquired Daewoo's shares in UzDaewooAuto. Two years later Uzavtoprom (Uzbek Association of Automotive Industry Enterprises) and the U.S.-based General Motors signed an agreement to establish the GM Uzbekistan with an authorized capital of $266.7 million.

GM had previously held a 25 percent stake in the joint venture. Previously, it became known that Uzavtosanoat bought 15 percent of shares.

Currently, at three production sites «GM Uzbekistan» are producing 10 car models under the Chevrolet and Ravon brands, in particular, Matiz, Spark (R2), Nexia (R3), Cobalt models (R4), Lacetti (Gentra) are produced at the main production in the Asaka city, models Captiva, Malibu in the branch in Tashkent, models Damas, Labo in the branch in the Pitnaka city.

Diplomatic relations between Belarus and Uzbekistan were established on January 21, 1993.

The trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Belarus in January-November 2018 amounted to $ 145.2 million, which is 28.5 percent more compared to the same period in 2017.

The Uzbek exports to Belarus mainly consist of vegetables and fruits, dried fruits, cotton, cars and clothing. Belarus supplies the Central Asian republic with tractors, road and construction equipment, medicines, epoxy resins, chassis with engines for cars, oil products and meat.

Both countries planned to increase trade to $ 500 million by 2020. Given the current growth rate, the goal looks quite feasible. This task is planned to be solved thanks to the development of cooperation in such areas as mechanical engineering, the agro-industrial complex, construction and health care.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz