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Media: AvtoVaz fired staff may get jobs to assemble BMW vehicles in Kaliningrad

MOSCOW, February 10, 8:00 /ITAR-TASS/. The Avtotor Automobile Conern in Kaliningrad is ready to offer jobs to specialists fired from Avtovaz, head of Kaliningrad’s facility Alexander Sorokin said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.

The big car making cluster in Russia’s western Kaliningrad region is interested in professionals. The cluster will unite five car-making facilities, an engineering centre, a training centre, a residential town for 50,000, a port container terminal and 15 plants producing parts and components.

“Our new production facilities need the staff, and the offer in Kaliningrad is not sufficient yet,” Sorokin told Izvestia.

Though Kaliningrad’s concern will need most specialists in 2016 only, the management is ready to employ some of them now.

The concern is ready to offer jobs not only to specialists from AvtoVaz, but also to those from Russia’s other car-making plants. The management stresses while workers may be trained rather quickly, training of engineers takes up to six years.

In late January, AvtoVaz’ head Bo Andersson announced the upcoming firing of 7,500 staff from the plant in Togliatti. Besides the administrative staff, the management will fire also 5,000 workers.

“We are developing and we are experiencing a lack of labour force. We do face temporary problems - the market slump, fewer orders and underproduction, but we do not fire our workers. Presently, we have been discussing with Kaliningrad’s authorities how to support those who will move in,” the concern’s head said.

The car cluster in Kaliningrad plans to produce up to 250,000 vehicles a year, where 20 percent will be exported. Between 2012 and 2020, the facilities will pay about 330 billion roubles (about 9.5 billion dollars) in taxes.