TECHNOLOGICAL CO-OPERATION OF THE COMECON COUNTRIES: JOINT PROJECTS ON THE SOVIET TERRITORY

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the creation of industrial enterprises with the participation of the Comecon countries. The idea of joint ventures emerged in the mid-1950s against the backdrop of a shortage of industrial raw materials, but by the mid-1960s the intensity of such ventures had already declined signifi Joint ventures received a new impetus in the early 1970s, when the construction of several large-scale facilities on the Soviet territory began. Based on archival materials, the author examines the motives and conditions for the creation of joint ventures as a way for the Comecon countries to adapt to new economic and technological challenges. In the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the transformation of the organisational structure within the bloc expanded the possibilities of cooperation to solve current tasks. One such task was the creation of large knowledge-intensive industries of industrial raw materials for modern enterprises. Capital investments in the construction of enterprises on the Soviet territory in the 1970s–1980s became one of the ways for the Comecon countries to solve this task, along with the creation of specialised international associations. It is concluded that one of the important motives for deepening cooperation, including through mutual investment, was the desire of the USSR and the Comecon countries to develop trade relations with Western European countries.