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Toyota opens assembly plant in Russia
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 21 - 12 - 2007


Japanese auto giant Toyota
Motor Corp. on Friday opened a new assembly plant on St.
Petersburg's outskirts _ a sign of increasing investor
interest in Russia's booming consumer market, AP REPORTED.
The plant, employing more than 600 workers, will produce
20,000 cars a year in the initial phase and later increase
its output to 50,000, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe
said. He said the output could eventually reach 200,000
cars a year.
President Vladimir Putin, who attended the plant's
opening, hailed it as a good sign for Russian-Japanese
relations.
«The relationship between Russia and Japan is getting
better, and the opening of the plant is a serious step to
increase the trust between the two countries,» Putin said
at the ceremony. «The expansion of trade and economic ties
between our countries will help the solution of other
problems.»
The bilateral ties have been strained over a dispute over
four islands at the southern end of the Kuril chain _ known
as the Northern Territories in Japan _ which has kept the
two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending
their World War II hostilities.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who co-heads
a Russo-Japanese cooperation body and also attended the
opening, praised the Russian Cabinet and local authorities
for helping the project. He later had a meeting with Putin
at the sidelines of the ceremony.
Toyota invested 5 billion rubles (US$202 million or ¤140
million) into the plant, which took about 2½ years to
build.
Watanabe noted a «high potential» of the Russian market,
adding that Toyota hopes to boost sales. «We hope to make
our contribution in the development of Russian car
manufacture,» he said.
Putin said that a steady increase of personal incomes in
Russia would continue to boost car sales, adding that the
Russians now buy about 2 million cars a year.
Several foreign automakers have based operations in St.
Petersburg, as Russia's former imperial capital has
provided tax breaks and infrastructure and cast itself as a
gateway for international trade.
Ford Motor Co. has a factory outside St. Petersburg, and
General Motors Corp. also broke ground in 2006 on its first
fully owned plant in Russia outside the city. France's
Renault SA and South Korea's Kia Motors also have opened
plants elsewhere in Russia.


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