Curtain-Raisers of the Integration Scheme

In discussing the results of the first three years of the Ninth Five-Year Plan period and the prospects for its fourth year, 1974, Nikolai Baibakov, Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee, singled out, in the section entitled "Foreign Economic Relations", two major industrial projects that have been launched: one in Eastern Siberia, the other in the Urals. Both projects, which are being jointly controlled by members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), offer vivid examples of how the comprehensive programme of socialist economic integration is being carried out. What are these projects like? On what principles are they based and in whose interests are they being built?

The 27th session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which was held in 1973, adopted a General agreement for the construction of a large asbestos ore-dressing integrated plant. It is being built on Soviet territory — in Kiembay, the Orenburg Region, in the southern Urals. In addition to the Soviet Union, participants are other CMEA members interested in its products — Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.

This is already the second agreement of its kind. The first, concluded in 1972, provided for the construction of a cellulose- and-paper plant, also on Soviet territory — in Ust-Ilim, the Irkutsk Region, part of Eastern Siberia. A large complex of industrial enterprises vital for many CMEA countries will spring up there. Its builders are Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union.

These agreements define each country's share in the building of the given project and in receipt of products, which will be in proportion to its investment.

To this end, the general agreements are complemented by the Soviet Union's bilateral agreements with the relevant countries on their concrete contributions to the building of the given industrial project. Such bilateral agreements have been signed, for instance, for the construction of the Ust-Ilim Plant. Deliveries of the materials each signatory country has pledged have already begun. Romania, for instance, will deliver steel structures and cables. The Soviet Union will provide the project with electricity, the labour force, the required engineering equipment, raw materials, etc. The result of these joint CMEA countries' efforts will be Europe's largest plant, with the most up-to-date equipment and an annual capacity of 500,000 tons of bleached sulphate pulp.

Now let us turn to the second integration scheme project — the Kiembay Asbestos Plant. Asbestos will not burn, is acid-proof, is a good binding material, with low heat conductivity and dimensional stability. Its impact load strength is greater than that of most metals and plastics. More than 3,000 items are produced out of asbestos — railway sleepers, pipes, wall panes for building projects (which are five times lighter than ferroconcrete ones and more durable). The modern building, motor car, chemical, electrical engineering and other industries cannot do without the use of asbestos.

Why did CMEA countries decide to build this plant on Soviet territory? Because the Soviet Union has the world's largest known asbestos resources. According to a 1970 estimate, 60 to 65 per cent of the world s asbestos resources, equalling 290 million tons, fall to its share.

Some idea of the scope of the Kiembay project can be gathered from the following two figures. Its annual output will be 500,000 tons of asbestos and 24 million tons of rock will have to be processed to this end. The industrial buildings themselves will be unique in size and equipment.

The state plan of the USSR national economic development for 1974 allocates financial and other material resources required for the construction of these enterprises.

"For the first time in planning practice," stressed the Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee, "the state plan of the USSR national economic development for 1974 contains a special section outlining measures designed to develop socialist economic integration between the Soviet Union and other CMEA member-countries."

In recent years, the CMEA countries have been building, or have already built, hundreds of major industrial enterprises, many of which to a considerable extent determine the further development of the economy of these countries and the important changes in their industrial production and goods turnover. Here are some examples to illustrate this point. Bulgaria, in cooperation with the Soviet Union and Hungary, is building a very large soda ash factory. Hungary, also jointly with the Soviet Union, is erecting a huge plant for processing the crude oil coming from the Druzhba-2 Oil Pipeline. In the German Democratic Republic, German experts, together with their Czechoslovak counterparts, are constructing an ethylene production complex. Poland, in collaboration with several other CMEA member-states, has expanded the capacities of operating ore mines and copper-smelting plants and built new ones in the Lubin-Glogow copper basin. In Romania, the Braila heat-and-power plant is going up with Soviet technical aid.

Many similar examples could be cited. They all reveal the socialist character of the relations between the CMEA countries.

by Nikolai INOZEMTSEV, Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee from the newspaper SOVIETSKAYA ROSSIYA

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