Azernews.Az

BAKU - Azerbaijan will ramp up production of defense industry goods to bring it to 103 million manats ($129 million) this year, Defense Industry Minister Yaver Jamalov has said.
As of the first six months of 2010, agreements on producing such goods made up 61.1m manats, with deals worth another 42m manats to be signed by the end of the year, Jamalov told a cabinet meeting held by President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday to wrap up half-year results of the country’s socio-economic development.
"The volume of the contracts concluded for this year has increased 120-fold compared to 2006, 9.6 times compared to 2007 and six-fold compared to 2008."
The minister noted that 413 types of defense industry goods and their spare parts are to be manufactured this year, 1.2 times above the 2009 level. The goods to be produced this year mainly include various types of mine- and grenade-launchers, sniper rifles, mines, air bombs, bullets, and hand grenades.
Jamalov said Azerbaijan’s Defense Industry Ministry is cooperating with more than 60 countries, and this very cooperation has allowed swift production of defense industry goods at the ministry’s enterprises. By the year-end, eight new facilities manufacturing such goods are to be commissioned in the country, he added.*