Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka visited Nexen Tire's plant located in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province in South Korea recently as part of his official state visit. His visit marked the one-year anniversary of the singing of MOU between Nexen Tire and the Czech government, which involved the construction of a new plant in Zatec, the Czech Republic. “We are pleased to welcome Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka to Nexen Tire. We relish the opportunity to provide him with an interactive view of the Changnyeong plant, which is a benchmark for the new plant in Zatec,” said Nexen Tire Chairman Kang Byung-Joong. He added “we look forward to further cementing our partnership with the Czech government and to set up the best tire manufacturing facility with advanced technology in Europe.” Through the MOU with the Czech government, Nexen Tire agreed to invest approximately €829 million to build the new plant on 650,000 square meters of land in Zatec, last year. Zatec is strategically located near Germany, France and Great Britain, allowing Nexen Tire to meet rising demands in Europe, one of the largest tire markets. It also gives the company an absolute advantage in supplying Original Equipment (OE) tires to global leading premium car manufacturers, including Fiat, Volkswagen and its Skoda Auto and Seat units. Nexen Tire plans to begin operating the plant in 2018 after construction is complete and then to gradually increase its annual production capacity to over 12 million units. It is highly anticipated that the new plant will contribute to reducing the unemployment rate in this region by creating more than 1,000 jobs. Also, this new plant will pave the way for Nexen Tire to become the global top 10 tire manufacturers by 2020. The construction of the new plant is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015. Currently, Nexen Tire owns three manufacturing facilities, two in Korea and the other one in Qingdao, China. Al-Amoudi Holdings Company is the exclusive distributor of Nexen tires in Saudi Arabia, with more than 1,000 service centers around the Kingdom. — SG
