BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 10. Kazakhstan's goal is to produce 500,000 cars per year by 2026, Kazakh Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development, Marat Karabayev, said on the sidelines of the Ondeu Expo international industrial exhibition, Trend reports via the Kazakh media.
According to the ministry, last year a total of 100,000 cars were produced in the country.
"The automotive industry has started to develop in Kazakhstan quite recently: we only started working in this sphere about 10 years ago. Last year, Kazakhstan manufactured 100,000 cars," said the minister.
According to him, if previously the main focus was the assembly of cars, now the country pays great attention to localization.
"Currently, we are tightening the requirements. We demand that each brand produce at least one model via small assembly," the minister added.
In addition, Karabayev noted there are several ongoing projects in the automotive industry, such as the production of tires, batteries, and front bumpers.
The minister of industry also noted that the volume of auto production is increasing in the country. According to him, the Kazakh automobile industry will manufacture 150,000 cars next year, which is equivalent to the current market demand for new cars in Kazakhstan. Additionally, the industry has several new projects, with the ultimate goal of increasing production volume to 500,000 cars by 2026.
The Ondeu Expo international industrial exhibition and Kazakhstan Machinery Fair kicked off today in the Astana EXPO center. The major three-day event was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan and the Union of Machine Builders of Kazakhstan.