KARACHI, April 10: Chinese and Russian auto makers are keen to come to Pakistan to produce affordable vehicles, Industries and Production Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi said here on Saturday.

He said he was due to leave for China shortly to hold a meeting with top officials of the Dong Feng company to explore the possibility of introducing 4X4 vehicles and other car models in Pakistan.

Dong Feng is already producing small trucks in collaboration with the Sindh Engineering Limited.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with members of Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association (PSMA), he said some Russian car makers were also interested in starting assembly of cars in Pakistan.

He said he had a detailed meeting with the Russian ambassador two days back. The diplomat had assured him that he would take steps to convince vehicle makers to come to Pakistan.

Mr Jatoi said that Russian vehicle makers were expected to visit Pakistan to conduct a market survey and hold negotiations before deciding about making huge investment.

He said he had apprised the Russian ambassador of the huge growth potential for the auto market. He said the consumers were still facing problems like late delivery of vehicles, high premiums and exorbitant car prices at the hands of the existing players.

"Russian cars like Lado 1,300cc, Samara 800cc and Nova Group's 800cc are very cheap as compared to those sold by Pakistani assemblers," he said, without saying what exactly was the difference.

He denied that Chinese motorcycle makers were being discouraged from investing in Pakistan, but said every prospective investor needs to follow and achieve a certain level of deletion for the start of bike assembly in the country.

Regarding the import of reconditioned cars, he said the ministerial committee will make the final decision which is to be submitted to the federal cabinet for approval.

"I cannot tell whether the government will discourage the import of used cars or liberalize it as much depends on the ministerial committee's findings," Mr Jatoi said.

He did not agree with the suggestion that the government was patronizing the local car assemblers. Setting up of a task force and then approving the import of used and new cars "mean that the government is highly concerned over the plight of the general public relating to payment of high premiums, late deliveries and high prices," he said.

The minister said the protection of car industry will be kept in mind before taking any action as one million people "are directly or indirectly associated with the car and vending industry who have invested Rs35 billion and intend to invest Rs14 billion more."

On the steel crisis, he said the SRO for a cut in import duty on re-rollable scrap from 25 to 10 per cent had been issued. He was of the view that steel prices had not gone up too far if compared with other countries where these had surged six-fold.