Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov held negotiations with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Skoda Transportation, Didier Pfleger.

The parties discussed the prospects of launching projects in the republic for the production, maintenance and modernization of railway and urban public transport.

The Prime Minister expressed conviction that the company will be able to launch relevant projects in Kazakhstan, given the tax and customs privileges offered to the investors. In this regard, he suggested considering the establishment of production with high localization and full-cycle production.

"The Government of Kazakhstan pays special attention to the machine-building industry, so we are interested in cooperation with foreign partners. We also consider it possible to attract Kazakhstani machine-building enterprises to implement joint projects," Alikhan Smailov said.

He emphasized that a special working group is working on mutually beneficial cooperation with Skoda Transportation with participation of all concerned government agencies and organizations.

In turn, Didier Pfleger said that the company is ready to enter new markets, and therefore considers Kazakhstan as a prospective partner for localization and development of its production.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to continue active work on development of mutually beneficial projects.

For reference: Czech engineering company Skoda Transportation is one of Europe's leading manufacturers of various transport means, including metro, trams, trolley buses, railway cars, electric trains and buses. The company is a part of Skoda Holding.