Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 12:30)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 16
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The construction of the third pharmaceutical plant will be launched in Azerbaijan in March 2017, Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, told reporters in Baku Jan. 16.
The minister added that the plant will be built by a private investor, but part of the share will be owned by the Azerbaijan Investment Company.
"In general, a number of pharmaceutical plants will begin to operate in Azerbaijan during three years,” the minister added. “At present, Azerbaijan imports almost 100 percent of the pharmaceutical products from abroad, but there’s a turning point coming up in three years. The important actions will be taken to ensure medicine availability in the country.”
Import of medicine in Azerbaijan increased by 20 percent in 2016 compared to 2015. Some 80 percent of drugs were imported from European and other developed countries in 2016. The rest import accounted for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
A groundbreaking ceremony of Caspian Pharmed, the second Azerbaijan-Iran joint pharmaceutical plant, was held in the Pirallahi Industrial Park in Baku Jan. 16.
The plant will be built together with Iran’s Tamin Pharmaceutical Investment Company.
The plant will be commissioned within two years. At the first stage it is planned to annually produce medication for treating heart diseases, contagious diseases, non-communicable diseases, as well as various types of antibiotics and painkillers.