Belarus investors to build big pharma plant in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

A big pharmaceutical enterprise will be built in Azerbaijan through Belarusian investments, Ambassador of Belarus to Azerbaijan Gennady Akhramovich said at a press conference on December 27.

He noted that the enterprise will provide the Azerbaijani market with the most modern high-tech medicines.

“First of all, the matter rests in the production of oncology medicines,” he said, adding that the enterprise will be one of the most modern in the post-Soviet area.

Akhramovich also underlined that the medicines produced at the enterprise may be exported to other countries.

Touching upon the bilateral trade relations he said that the year 2018 saw a real breakthrough in trade and economy between Azerbaijan and Belarus.

He noted that following the ten months of 2018, the trade turnover between the countries exceeded $400 million on 370 commodity items, adding that by the end of the year, this figure will reach approximately $ 450-500 million.

Belarusian exports to Azerbaijan increased by almost three times, while exports from Azerbaijan increased by 44 percent.

“There are positive statistics on both the increase in Belarus exports to Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani exports to Belarus,” he said.

Belarus mainly exports to Azerbaijan the production of machinery, woodworking, tires, foodstuff, medicine, household appliances, dishes and other goods, meanwhile Azerbaijan exports to Belarus the products made of aluminum, products of petrochemistry, engineering and agriculture.

The ambassador noted that the economies of Belarus and Azerbaijan are not competitors, but complement each other.

“Products of the machine engineering industry, petrochemistry, woodworking, pharmaceuticals, military-technical cooperation became the main Belarusian export items to Azerbaijan,” he said. “In turn, Belarus also imported petrochemicals, vegetables, fruits and many other non-oil products from Azerbaijan.”

The ambassador emphasized that Belarus is negotiating with Azerbaijan to increase the number of regular flights. 

"We want to use Azerbaijani aircraft to establish international flights, for example, Minsk-New York," Akhramovich said, adding that Belarus also plans to increase cargo turnover on air routes from Baku.

Akhramovich went on to say that Belarus is interested in the North-South project and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, and Belarus aims to create a railway route Minsk-Baku.

The ambassador reminded that in Alat there is a powerful logistic center, the capabilities of which can be used by Belarus to supply its goods to Georgia, Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route.

He noted that this year the cargo traffic between Azerbaijan and Belarus will amount to 400,000 tons.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1993, but cooperation in the economic sphere has been developing dynamically in the past decade. 

Today, a legal and organizational framework has been set up that allows the implementation of joint projects. The Agreement on Investment Promotion and Mutual Protection between the Governments of Belarus and Azerbaijan came into force in 2011.

A store of Belarusian goods is expected to open in Ganja, the second biggest city of Azerbaijan, while similar sale points are already operational in the capital city Baku.

More than 10,000 Belarusian tractors and their specialized equipment have been assembled at Ganja automobile plant over the years.

Moreover, Azerbaijan and Belarus had plans to supply tractors to Turkey. The Minsk Tractor Works (MTW) OJSC signed a new contract with Ganja Automobile Plant in Azerbaijan on September 22, 2017, for a supply of tractors to Azerbaijan along with an additional protocol on jointly entering the Turkish market.

Azerbaijan’s first ever Trade House was opened in Belarusian capital Minsk on May 26, 2017, that presents Azerbaijan's domestic products.

Recently, Belarusian Railways and the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC signed an agreement on mutually beneficial cooperation for the interaction of the railways of the two countries to contribute to the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor.