OREANDA-NEWS. April 05, 2012. Director General of OJSC KAMAZ Sergey Kogogin participated in a meeting on the development of the Russian automotive industry in the context of Russia’s accession to the WTO which was held in Togliatti yesterday.

The meeting was held in the presence of Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina, and other members of the government. The managers of Russian automobile enterprises and foreign auto concerns which have assembly enterprises in Russia participated in it too.

Speaking about Russia’s accession to the WTO, Vladimir Putin said that they will use a whole arsenal of flexible support for all manufacturers operating in Russia. As for reducing import duties for motor vehicles, it will be extended for several years.

Besides, Putin suggested a number of measures for support of the Russian automobile industry. “First, our market must be protected against various kinds of motor junk. Second, all government and municipal agencies, contractors and enterprises financed out of the federal budget soon will only have to buy motor vehicles produced in Russia. Third, we suggest using federal treasury funds to cover part of automotive plants’ interest payments on loans taken through the year 2014. I should note here that this privilege will be granted exclusively to those who implement their investment plans consistently and rigorously. Fourth, we propose releasing additional subsidies to the regions so that they could renew their bus fleets, but only on condition that they go for vehicles running on a cleaner fuel, gas. Preliminarily, we’re going to earmark 3.5 billion roubles for the purpose,” said Vladimir Putin.

Prime Minister also supported the suggestion that there should be a 15-year limit on the operation life of buses and trucks and agreed to introduce salvage fees. Prime Minister noted that all these measures of support don’t contradict the principles and norms of the WTO.

KAMAZ has for a long time been developing the production of gas-powered vehicles. Natural gas is the most affordable and environmentally friendly motor fuel. Its use enables to greatly reduce the amount of toxic substances in exhaust gases – to the level of Euro VI and Euro V emission standards, which is of great importance environmentally in Russia. Besides, against the background of permanently rising oil prices, it is economically attractive – the cost of methane is twice or thrice as low as the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel, and propane. Since 2000 KAMAZ has been developing the whole range of advanced vehicles and buses equipped with gas engines which have great advantages over vehicles running on traditional diesel fuel by consumer properties.