OREANDA-NEWS. April 24, 2009. The delegation of the Free State of Saxony headed by its Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich visited KAMAZ.

The main aim of the German manufacturers’ visit to KAMAZ was to present Saxon firms, potential partners of the Russian truck industry. Negotiations were held concerning prospects of cooperation in engine and gearbox production at KAMAZ enterprises.

Thomas Yurk – the Saxon Minister of Economy and Labour, Peter Zimmermann – the Saxon Government Spokesman, representatives of industrial companies, as well as journalists of the largest German publishing houses visited KAMAZ together with the Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony.

Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of KAMAZ Inc., met the guests at the company’s headquarters. Rustam Minnikhanov – Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Boris Pavlov – the RT First Vice Premier, Ravil Zaripov – the RT Minister of Industry and Trade, Ildar Khalikov – Mayor of Naberezhnye Chenly participated in the reception.

Greeting the guests Sergey Kogoghin noted longstanding and close relations of KAMAZ with the authorities and business circles of Saxony. “Today the both parties are interested in the further development and organization of unit production for new generation trucks, – said the general director of KAMAZ. – We see a chance for our cooperation to improve in joining the potential of Saxon industrial companies and KAMAZ. We are open to long-term and mutually advantageous cooperation and are ready for continued skill-sharing. So today’s visit takes on special significance and is a great event for us.”

Then the delegation from Germany visited an automotive equipment exhibition on the territory of KAMAZ R&D Center where the guests saw new models of KAMAZ trucks. Shown was also a sports vehicle KAMAZ-4911 Extreme – a manifold winner of various rallies including Dakar super marathons. It was demonstrated to the German guests by the famous racer of the KAMAZ-master team Vladimir Chaguin. Having seen the exhibition and tested the racing super-truck, the Prime Minister of Saxony, who, by the way, visited KAMAZ for the first time, shared his impressions. “This “extreme” KAMAZ secures a crew during races very well, – he noted. –It makes it difficult to get in a cab, but I saw many models at the exhibition which conform to the strictest comfort requirements. And the design of a racing KAMAZ vehicle is the best for sportsmen.”

According to Stanislaw Tillich, modern KAMAZ vehicles also correspond to the European quality and reliability requirements. “We would like to continue cooperating with Russia’s leading automotive company and one of the largest producers in the world, – he said. – Some of the projects we offered earlier have already been realized, and we suggest that we should expand our cooperation introducing new developments.”

The visit was concluded with a business conference, presentations and negotiations concerning business partnership and mutually beneficial cooperation. The Saxon delegation was presented with the firms producing components for such large German auto manufacturers as Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, etc. The whole range of projects offered by the guests is indeed very interesting to KAMAZ specialists. They were presented by general directors and leading specialists of such companies as ADZ Nagano GmbH, GalvanoTechnik GmbH, KUKA Systems GmbH, Hцrmann Rawema GmbH, Starrag Heckert GmbH, etc.

The German delegation will visit Special Economic Zone Alabuga (Yelabuga). The Prime Ministers of Saxony and Tatarstan decided to get to the destination on a KAMAZ-4911 Extreme racing truck. Rustam Minnikhanov, Honoured Master of Sports, manifold winner of Desert Challenge rally as a member of the KAMAZ-master team, is to drive the sports truck.