Azernews.Az

By Aygul Salmanova

Industrial zones will be created in each Azerbaijani region, Deputy Economy Minister Niyazi Safarov noted while making remarks at a conference on expansion of production of import-substituting products in industry by using local raw materials on February 6.

Safarov added that industry plays a big role in the development of the Azerbaijani economy.

‘Five industrial parks and four industrial districts have been recently created in Azerbaijan upon the instructions of the country’s President Ilham Aliyev and their number will increase in the future,” he said.

He added that the work is underway to create industrial clusters in accordance with the strategic road maps: “Currently, the work is underway to prepare the appropriate methodology and proposals, as well as preferences that will be applied in these clusters.”

Safarov went on talking about production of special equipment for school laboratories. He said that Labdisc Azerbaijan, a company that has become the new resident of the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park, will produce the equipment.

“Last week, we registered the 16th resident of the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park - Labdisc Azerbaijan,” he said. “The company will manufacture various equipment used in education sector including various laboratory equipment, electronics and other devices. This is a new sphere for Azerbaijan and it is very interesting for us.”

The decree to establish the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park was signed in December 2011, according to which State Oil company SOCAR and the Ministry of Economy were instructed to implement measures that support the creation and development of production and processing areas related to chemical industry in the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park in order to enhance the potential of chemical industry, establish private enterprises in that industry, and obtain competitive products from local raw materials.

The deputy minister also noted that the Ministry of Economy is holding talks with potential customers of SOCAR Polymer facility's production.

“We started to search for potential customers of SOCAR Polymer production. Talks with 15 companies are ongoing, but the number will increase in future. Right now there is a demand for 50,000 tons of polyethylene as a result,” he added.

Head of SOCAR Polymer company’s planning department Vugar Aslanov, for his part, said that the construction of a polypropylene plant has been completed by 97.2 percent within SOCAR Polymer project in Azerbaijan’s Sumgait city, adding that work is planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2018.

“We intend to launch test work in April, while production will begin in June 2018,” he said.

“This year 70,000-71,000 tons of polyethylene are planned to be produced at the plant,” he said. “The plant will reach the full production capacity of 180,000 tons next year.”

Touching upon the process of the construction of the second plant for the production of high-density polyethylene, Aslanov said that the project was implemented at 87.7 percent, noting that the plant is planned to be commissioned in the third quarter of this year, or, more precisely, in September.

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