29.01.2007
The Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry plans to sign some 15 agreements on commercial automobile component assembly in Russia by October 30, a ministry official told reporters.
This is the deadline that the ministry has set itself to sign agreements of this nature in connection with Russia 's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said Dmitry Levchenkov, the ministry's deputy head of investment policy. "I think around 15 agreements will be signed in total," he said, adding that some 50 draft agreements were originally under consideration.
The biggest of them was signed with Canada 's Magna, which plans, in conjunction with Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element, to build four plants in Russia - in Nizhny Novgorod , St. Petersburg , Kaluga and the Samara region. Talks are also under way with Johnson Controls, a U.S. company that intends to expand component production in Russia . Agreements with Italian, German and Japanese companies are also being discussed, Levchenkov said.