MINSK, 19 November (BelTA) – Belarus and Azerbaijan intend to assemble the first few tractors in Turkey as early as in April 2019. The statement was made by Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Rusy on the sidelines of negotiations of the presidents of Belarus and Azerbaijan in Minsk on 19 November, BelTA has learned.
The official said: “All the three sides support [the project]. We expect that the first tractor will roll off the assembly line as early as in April. On the whole, we expect the enterprise to make about 1,000 tractors per annum.”
The sides intend to expand the assembling of Belarusian vehicles in Azerbaijan, too. “We've come up with new approaches – the assembling of grain and forage harvesters made by Gomselmash,” said Mikhail Rusy. “Since peasants don't need tractors per se, an entire range of trailed equipment will be assembled.”
During the meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on 19 November Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko noted that the two countries had established the foundation for broad manufacturing cooperation. “Flagships of the Belarusian mechanical engineering industry – MTZ and MAZ – as well as the Ganja automobile plant have demonstrated a decent example of such work. Over 10,000 tractors and 3,500 automobiles have already been assembled in Ganja. Today we are ready to get down to a brand new stage of cooperation – the joint penetration of third-country markets,” stated the Belarusian head of state.
In his words, the project to make tractors in Turkey with assistance of MTZ and the Ganja automobile plant is nearly ready. “Future belongs to such initiatives. We should focus on them,” the Belarusian leader is convinced.
