Iraq’s Ministry of Industry and Minerals is to purchase 4,000 Scania trucks, in a deal worth $472m to the Swedish truck maker and its local partner.
The five-year deal will seed Iraqi partner Qanadeel al Rafidain oversee the assembly of the vehicles at the government’s Iskandariyah industrial complex south of Baghdad.
The agreement also secures positions for local workers.
Scania has said it will provide industrial know-how, tools and training during the period of the agreement.
Scania revealed that collaboration with Sweden’s official representatives in Iraq has been vital in creating the agreement, which was signed at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in Baghdad in the presence of Carl Magnus Nesser, Sweden’s Ambassador, and Roland Sossi, head of the Swedish Trade Council in Iraq.
Klas Dahlberg, VP in charge sales to dealers in the Middle East, said: “This agreement is an important step in our continued cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Mining. It demonstrates Scania’s strong position in Iraq and our ability to provide customised solution.”
Gustaf Sundell, Scania’s country manager for Iraq explained that the deal will be important to Scania’s long-term investment in the Iraqi market and its local partner Qanadeel.
“The agreement means that Qanadeel can intensify the expansion of its service network and continue to invest in training its own employees,” he said.
Scania has had a long history in the Iraq market stretching back to the 1970s and 1980s and at its peak it sold 3,900 trucks in one in year during 1981.
It has recently completed the delivery of 500 trucks to the Ministry of Industry and Minerals which it secured in 2009.
