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Belarusian government «extremely unsatisfied» with operation of Samand plant

The Belarusian government is extremely unsatisfied with the operation of Unison that assembles Iran Khodro`s Samand cars at a plant in Abchak near Minsk, First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Syamashka said at a meeting held by the House of Representatives’ standing committee on state building and local self-government on Wednesday, BelaPAN said.

“Only 1,000 cars have been manufactured,” Mr. Syamashka said. “And they were bought by ministries and other governmental agencies due to my pressure alone.”

The deputy minister said that the plant`s models were outdated, while their prices were too high.

The Belarusian government earlier suggested that the Iranian partner should build coating and welding shops at the plant, but the stockholders failed to reach agreement at their meeting a month ago, Mr. Syamashka said.

Mr. Syamashka said that Belarus was in talks with a Chinese carmaker about a joint assembly plant in Belarus. “I think that an agreement will be struck this year,” he said without elaborating.

In February 2006, Unison and Iran Khodro inked a nine-year deal to assemble the Samand car and its more luxurious type, Samand LX.

About 2,000 Samand cars were initially projected to roll off the Belarusian plant’s assembly line in 2007. Some 300 were reportedly made.