Truck maker Scania has acquired a majority stake in its Iraqi distribution company.
Through this investment, Scania is building further on its strong brand in Iraq. In the early 1980s, Iraq was one of Scania’s largest markets.
Since 1961, 35,000 vehicles have been delivered. Combined with significant imports of used vehicles in recent years, approximately 20,000 Scania vehicles are now operating in the country.
“Now there is a lot happening in the Iraqi market again and we need to be able to expand more rapidly,” says Gustaf Sundell, Scania’s Country Manager for Iraq.
Above all, there is a great need to rebuild the service network, particularly in Basra province in southern Iraq, where there is rapidly increasing demand for transport services from international companies, mainly in the oil industry.
Concurrently, Scania has entered into a cooperation agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Industry and Minerals to assemble trucks for various governmental customers in partnership with the Ministry. The vehicles are being assembled at the government’s Iskandariyah industrial complex south of Baghdad.
In order to supply the new organisation in Iraq with skilled labour, Scania opened the Swedish Academy for Training earlier this year in Erbil, northern Iraq, in collaboration with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), EF Education First and local authorities.
“The school will serve as an important base for recruitment of the employees needed now that we are expanding our sales and service network in the country,” says Sundell.
(Source: Scania)
Comments are closed.