Slovak President Launches New Tyre Line at Matador-Omskshina

Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic and Omsk region Governor Leonid Polezhayev commissioned a new tyre production line at the Matador-Omskshina joint venture on Wednesday 8 November. JV Director General Stefan Prokop told the Itar-Tass news agency that in 2005 the main shareholders, Matador and Sibur-Russian Tyres (50:50 partners), approved the joint development and modernisation of the enterprise and envisaged more than 1.5 billion roubles in investment.

New equipment worth 200 million roubles will become operational before the end of the year. It will make tyres for cars to European standards. “We started in 1995 with 150,000 tyres a year. Now we are making three million and there is no doubt that we will increase the output to four million a year after modernisation as scheduled,” Polezhayev said.

A programme, covering a period of up to 2010, is being implemented at the enterprise to modernise its equipment and to boost the output. The total amount of investments in the enterprise reached US$1.5 billion.

Trade turnover between the Omsk region and Slovakia grew from $3.76 to $92.8 million in the period from 2000 to 2005. Industrial equipment accounts for more than 95 per cent of Slovak imports. The Omsk region exports mainly petroleum and chemical products to Slovakia.