Riga is interested in setting up a joint assembly production with Belkommunmash, Valery Igaunis, chairman of the council of the Riga Carriage Building Plant, noted during a meeting of Nikolai Ladutko, Acting Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, with the delegation of the Riga City Council led by Riga Vice Mayor Ainars Shlesers on 13 August.

Valery Igaunis noted that the Riga Carriage Building Plant has designed a new tram wheeled frame, the sample of which will be supplied to Minsk in autumn this year. Belkommunmash will be able to use this frame for its trams which will be sold on the CIS markets. Riga shows an interest in the up-to-date trams produced by Belkommunmash to sell them in the neighboring EU countries.

“We have agreed on cooperation: Belkommunmash will assemble trams from the Riga component parts to supply those trams to the CIS markets. In turn, the Riga Carriage Building Plant will assemble trams from Belkommunmash’s parts to supply them to the western market,” Valery Igaunis said. According to him, owing to the mutually beneficial cooperation the two capitals will develop their export potential.

According to specialists, the two sides are also expected to hold negotiations on supplies of diesel-electric passenger trains using the same cooperation scheme. In 2010, the Riga Carriage Building Plant intends to launch the production of a universal diesel-electric passenger train for Latvia. “We are ready to hand over our technologies to the Lida Depot which could use them for the Belarusian trains,” Valery Igaunis noted.

Nikolai Ladutko noted that these projects should be carried out definitely. According to him, the Minsk City Administration is very attentive to various business contacts. “If you have concrete projects with Minsk companies, we will supervise their implementation,” he underscored.

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