BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 5. When the Ministry of Defense Industry was established by my order 20 years ago, we assessed it as a state monopoly at the time, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said during an interview with local television channels on January 5, TurkicWorld reports.
"However, over the years, especially when we look at international experience, we have observed that private companies play leading roles in many countries. Moreover, by involving private companies in this work, we could reduce both the burden on the state and the financial aspect. Therefore, over the past two years, opportunities have been provided to private companies alongside state ones.
To date, 15 companies have been granted licenses – of course, this is an area that requires licensing. Seven private companies have already started producing military products. If we look at the volume of investment, we can see that one billion manats were invested in 2024-2025 to create new production sites and expand existing ones. Half of this was invested by the private sector. Again, since this area is somewhat restricted to the public, extensive information is not provided. However, this process has become very widespread," the head of state added.
