Azerbaijan to develop the next generation drones

"From the very first day of its work, Azerbaijan's ministry of defense industry, adequately fulfilling its obligations, organized large production at its subordinate enterprises and continues to work in this direction today," Jamalov said.

"The ministry produces various types of small arms and melee weapons, artillery, armored vehicles, various aerial bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles, various types of ammunition for small arms, including small-caliber automatic pistols, optical devices and others," he said.

He said that one of the ministry's priority tasks is to provide the defense industry with qualified personnel.

"There are certain achievements in this work," said the minister. "At the request of the ministry, the 'Special Equipment and Technology' faculty and relevant departments were established at the Azerbaijan Technical University in 2011 to train qualified personnel in line with a Cabinet of Ministers' decision."

"Currently, 370 students study at that faculty," the minister said. "We hope that today's students will use their knowledge and skills for the development of the country's defense industry in the near future as highly qualified personnel."

Speaking about his recent meeting with Rana Tanveer Hussain, Pakistan's federal minister for defense production, Jamalov said the prospects for development of the defense industry cooperation between the two countries were widely discussed.

Jamalov said that currently the defense industry ministry meets the Azerbaijani armed forces' needs in weapons, including sniper rifles, ammunition, mortars, grenade launchers, unmanned aerial vehicles, armored vehicles and other products intended for defense purposes.

Currently, the enterprises that are subordinate to the ministry, are producing about 1,100 kinds of defense products, added the minister.

"The materials used for manufacturing the defense products are being imported," said Jamalov, adding that meanwhile a number of the produced small arms and ammunition is exported.

Jamalov also said the defense industry ministry is cooperating closely with the leading companies and firms in the developed countries in various areas of the defense industry, and currently the work is underway to develop the existing ties and to establish the new ones.