Pirelli Investment Project in Kirov

On April 27, an agreement was signed by the Governor of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, the acting CEO of Pirelli in Russia, Andrea Guglielmo, and the CEO of JSC "Kirov Tire Plant". According to the agreement, Pirelli will implement an investment project in the Kirov region over the next four years, until 2015. The regional government's website states that the costs for its implementation will amount to around 100 million euros. Local authorities and JSC "Kirov Tire Plant" will provide all necessary support. Nikita Belykh stated that the project is related to the modernization and technical re-equipment of the Kirov Tire Plant. The new equipment will allow for an increase in the number of tires produced, with a significant portion of them being released under the Pirelli brand. Currently, the Kirov Tire Plant produces around 7% of its products under the Pirelli brand, but by 2015, this share is expected to increase to 38%. In addition to equipment and the percentage of Pirelli tire production, working issues related to the operation of the plant, such as staff numbers and salary increases, were also discussed at the meeting. There are also plans to improve the qualifications of plant employees. "The regional government undertakes to provide the enterprise with a number of tax benefits and to connect to the solution of the issue of repairing access roads. However, according to our estimates, the direct and indirect costs of the budget will be offset by the economic and social effect caused by the implementation of the project," said Nikita Belykh.