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Two mid-size Indian pharmaceutical companies are in the process of setting up manufacturing facilities in Belarus through joint ventures, to manufacture anti-cancer and generic drugs, according to Vitaly A. Prima, Belarus’s ambassador to India.
Speaking to Business Line, Prima said a prolonged initiative by Belarus to attract investments from the Indian pharmaceutical industry was finally yielding results.
He did not disclose details of the joint ventures or the names of the investors.
Belarus currently depends on drug imports to meet the medical needs of its 9.4-million population.
According to Prima, besides meeting the demand for medicines in Belarus, the investors will gain automatic access to the Russian (population: 143 million) and Kazakhstan (17 million) markets. The three countries are part of a common customs union.
Re-entering India
As part of the Soviet Union, Belarusian outfits used to supply India with mining machinery, tractors and defence equipment.
Recently, Belarusian dump-truck maker Belaz re-established business ties with the Indian market after more than two decades.
Four of the company’s high-capacity dump trucks — used in open-cast mines — will be launched next week at a mine operated by EMTA Ltd, a private operator.
Belaz has formed an Indian joint venture, Belaz-Enrika, and is in negotiations with other major private sector miners, including Reliance, Adani and the Aditya Birla Group.
Efforts are on to locate a joint venture partner for state-owned Minsk Tractor Works, which withdrew from the Indian market after the collapse of the USSR.
The company’s MTZ tractors are sold worldwide through 20 joint ventures. It also has two assembling units in China.
Defence deal
A prominent maker of defence equipment, Belarus will take part in this year’s Defexpo, to be held in Delhi next month. This will be followed by a meeting of the joint military commission on Military Technical Cooperation between the two countries.
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