BBC Monitoring Service, APA News Agency,
26, January 2008

Several new military factories will start operating in Azerbaijan this year, sources in the government have told APA. These factories will be located in various regions of Azerbaijan. Agreements on manufacturing a number of weapons and hardware have already been reached with Pakistan and Belarus.

Negotiations on cooperation in this sphere are continuing with Turkey. According to an agreement that has been reached, Azerbaijan will start manufacturing armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as small calibre artillery guns.

According to the source, negotiations are currently continuing with a number of companies on the joint manufacturing of electronic and communications military equipment.

It must be noted that among CIS countries, Azerbaijan is the only manufacturer of electronic printed-circuit boards used in military and space intelligence.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence Industry has declined to provide any information on this matter.