Azerbaijan, Iran plan to accelerate creation of joint plant for medicine production
By Rashid Shirinov
Iran and Azerbaijan plan to accelerate the work on the establishment of a joint pharmaceutical enterprise in the industrial park in Baku, Iranian Deputy Minister of Health Iraj Harirchi told Trend on March 30.
He said this issue will be discussed during the visit of the Iranian Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi to Azerbaijan on April 19.
“The decision to create a joint pharmaceutical enterprise was again confirmed during the recent visit [March 28-29] of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Azerbaijan,” Harirchi noted.
He added that the parties agreed to expand cooperation in the creation of the joint venture for medicine production, as well as in the medical field and in establishing links between the medical universities of the two countries.
Azerbaijan and Iran signed the memorandum of understanding on the construction of a joint pharmaceutical plant on April 21, 2016. The groundbreaking ceremony of the joint plant Caspian Pharmed was held in the Pirallahi district of Baku in January 2017.
The cost of the plant is $20.6 million, and the Iranian side will invest some $11 million in its construction. The project shareholders are Iran’s Tamin Pharmaceutical Investment Company (49 percent), Azersun Holding (26 percent) and Azerbaijan Investment Company (25 percent).
The project will consist of three stages. In the first phase there will be production of pills and capsules, ampoules and vial - in the second stage, and production of antibiotic drugs will be in the third stage.
The major part of drugs is planned to be sold in Azerbaijan’s domestic market, while a certain part will be exported to Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and other countries.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz