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St. Petersburg plans to sign agreement on setting up automotive cluster

St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2017) will be held from June 1 through 3 under the slogan Achieving a New Balance in the Global Economic Arena

ST. PETERSBURG, May 25. /TASS/. St. Petersburg’s authorities plan to sign at the forthcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2017) an agreement with manufacturers of car components and the Avtoprom North-West union to increase localization of existing production facilities, St. Petersburg’s governor Georgy Poltavchenko said in an interview with news agencies.

"We don’t plan to sign anything related to the automotive industry but for an agreement with the Avtoprom North-West union, which incorporates manufacturers of car components, on the establishment of the Avtoprom North-West Automotive Cluster. This step will make it possible to increase the degree of localization of the existing production lines and invite more manufacturers and suppliers," he said.

According to Poltavchenko, the city is in talks with several car manufacturers. "I can only say that talks are underway with a range of companies but so far they are of closed character. So far, these are only preliminary negotiations. Although there are some concrete matters but so far I think it too earlier to dwell on them," he said.

Apart from that, he said he doesn’t expect any decisions on the resumption of the operation of the GM plant that was mothballed in 2015. However, he noted, that agreements with car manufacturers signed at the previous forums have made it possible for the St. Petersburg’s automotive cluster to live through the crisis with lesser losses than the country’s automotive industry in general. In the first four months of the current year, car production in St. Petersburg grew by 26.5% on January-April 2016.

St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2017) will be held from June 1 through 3 under the slogan Achieving a New Balance in the Global Economic Arena.

TASS is the forum’s general information partners and official photo host agency. Apart from that, the agency is an operator of the forum’s presentation zone.

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