OREANDA-NEWS. On 29 June Gurbangula Berdymukhamedov – President of Turkmenistan – visited KAMAZ.

The arrival of the head of Turkmenistan is the first visit of the president of a foreign state in the modern history of KAMAZ. This visit becomes even more significant due to the fact that exactly on 29 June Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov celebrated his birthday.

KAMAZ attaches much importance to this meeting. During the recent visit of the delegation of the Tatarstan government headed by Prime Minister Rustam Minnikhanov to Turkmenistan Director General of KAMAZ Inc. Sergey Kogoghin and the government of the country signed an agreement on delivery of equipment. The document presupposes shipping of 2549 trucks in 2008 to satisfy the state needs of this Central Asian republic.

Within the bounds of this long-term agreement Turkmenistan purchases KAMAZ brand-new models of trucks of different payload (generally, dump trucks). Also the Russian automobile plant offers vehicles designed for transportation of various goods, special equipment (auto hydraulic hoists, autocranes, etc.) on the basis of the KAMAZ chassis, and, besides, NEFAZ buses.

It’s significant to note that vehicles of all classes are made of common parts. It makes their after-sales service easier.

KAMAZ gives special attention to after-sales service of its equipment. At the beginning of June it’s planned to open a modern educational and trade service complex KAMAZ in Ashkhabad – the capital of Turkmenistan.

Turkmen builders made this project worth of \\$5 million by order and at the expense of KAMAZ. The service center is located on the area of two hectares and intended for all-inclusive service of 1000 KAMAZ vehicles per year.

The educational and trade service center will provide for complete overhaul, seasonal preparation and diagnostics of automobiles, training and retraining of machine men and drivers, sale of new equipment and parts. The specialists of the service center will control the condition and right operation of the delivered equipment, and mobile units will service the equipment in all Turkmenistan regions.

To date nearly 10 thousand KAMAZ vehicles are operated in Turkmenistan. The republic is among the top three leaders among CIS countries by purchase amount of KAMAZ equipment, after Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In 2007 KAMAZ shipped 11.6 thousand vehicles to CIS countries.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov visited the mother conveyer of KAMAZ Inc., and also saw the exhibition of automotive equipment organized at the premises of the company’s R&D Center. During his visit the head of the Republic of Turkmenistan was accompanied by Prime Minister of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and Director General of KAMAZ Inc. Sergey Kogoghin.

At the very beginning of the visit the head of the friendly republic saw the mother conveyer at which Mr. Berdymukhamedov paid special attention to KAMAZ-43501 – a truck which passed the tests of landing on the platform from airplanes of air force and transport aircraft. However, the Turkmenistan delegation was interested not only in dual-purpose technology. By way of example, a dumper KAMAZ-65115 with a gas engine attracted attention of the president of Turkmenistan on the R&D area. This vehicle was developed by the auto plant especially for construction of projects of the Olympic Games-2014 in Sochi. Judging by Mr. Berdymukhamedov’s reaction, this truck can be of interest to Turkmenistan rich in natural gas stores.

Also the guests more than once stopped near the KAMAZ models of the so-called “heavy” family with high payload which are able to transport not only construction materials and industrial goods, but also hydrocarbons thanks to superstructures.

It’s interesting that the delegation included the representatives of the main ministries of the neighbouring republic, and their interest to Tatarstan vehicles is great. According to Prime Minister of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, KAMAZ vehicles are called-for in Turkmenistan. However, and the premier emphasized it, collaboration of the republics will not come only to mechanical engineering. The sphere of mutual interests includes petrochemistry and aircraft building as well.