Venezuela recently entered a deal giving them the license to produce the current AK-103 rifle. Venezuela currently is the largest user of the Russian AK-103 rifle with around 100,000 rifles being used by all branches of their military.
The AK-103 rifle is pretty much the improved AK-74 but chambered in 7.62x39mm used by the AK-47. To help cut cost Venezuela was able to obtain a license to produce AK-103s locally three years ago. The deal was recently finalized and Venezuela will start importing the machinery to allow them to manufacture officially licensed AK-103s with production expected to start in 2012. Around 50,000 AK-103 rifles are expected to be built a year, with Russia getting a small cut of each rifle made.
[Source: Guns.com]
