By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

Azerbaijan and Russia will open a joint pharmaceutical company Hayat Pharm near Baku, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev has said.

“The Russian R-Pharm company’s drug manufacturing plant will be inaugurated in the territory of Pirallahi [near Baku] industrial park as part of the meeting of intergovernmental commission in Baku on December 9,” Shahin Mustafayev told the Russian media on the sidelines of the 10th Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum held in Moscow on November 22-23.

In his words, $80 million will be invested in the project. “The first phase is ready. I hope that soon we will begin building the second stage,” Mustafayev said.

The Deputy Prime Minister also said that the Russian-Azerbaijani relations developing very successfully in all directions.

“I would like to highlight the huge growth in trade volume last year - it increased by almost 20%. In the first nine months of this year, we have already seen 24 percent increase in trade turnover. Against the background of trade wars, sanctions, and embargos, obtaining such results is especially pleasant and extremely important for the development of economic ties between our countries,” Mustafayev stressed.

The annual production capacity of the Hayat Pharm plant, founded by Azerbaijan Investment Company OJSC, Azerbaijan’s Vita-A and Russian R-Farm, will be 22.5 million packages or 500 million tablets and capsules. In general, the plant will produce 89 kinds of medicines at the initial stage. Investments in the plant are estimated at $74 million.

The complex will meet all modern standards, including good manufacturing practice. The portfolio of products planned for localization in the framework of the import substitution program will include drugs for the treatment of socially significant and high-cost nosologies. These will include drugs for the treatment of cancer, heart diseases, diabetes.

The products produced in the plant will be exported to Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Central Asian countries.

R-Farm JSC is a Russian high-tech pharmaceutical company, founded in 2001, covers areas related to the development, research, production, market launch of a wide range of medicines intended primarily for in-patient and specialized medical care.

Notably, Russia’s R-Pharm owns 45 percent, Azerbaijan Investment Company 10 percent and Azerbaijan’s Vita-A LLC 45 percent shares in this plant.

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