Uzbek-British joint venture Farm-Glass has opened a US$ 6.5 million factory in Tashkent to produce colored medical glass. The factory will be able to produce 49 million glass containers a year, Oleg Z…
Uzbek-British joint venture Farm-Glass has opened a US$ 6.5 million factory in Tashkent to produce colored medical glass. The factory will be able to produce 49 million glass containers a year, Oleg Zotov, head of marketing an investment at Uzbekistan“s Uzfarmprom, the Uzbek partner in the joint venture, told Interfax. Zotov said that Uzbekistan“s pharmaceutical industry needs 580 million glass containers a year. Until now, it had no enterprises that produced glass for the pharmaceutical industry and relied on imports. Uzfarmprom is working on a project to create a second line at Farm-Glass to produce 580 million glass containers and 550 million vials a year. This project will also cost about US$ 30 million and was financed with an interest-free loan from Aquarelle worth US$ 3.8 million, and money provided by Uzfarmprom. Farm-Glass was created in 2000 by Britain“s Aquarelle and Uzfarmprom, with charter capital of US$ 1.2 million. The British company holds 70% and Uzbekistan holds 30% in the joint venture. The project will boost Uzbekistan“s pharmaceuticals industry. Zotov said pharmaceuticals output last year came to som 6.35 billion, compared with som 2.4 billion in 1999, while this year“s forecast is for som 9 billion .