FORD SUSPENDS PRODUCTION IN BELARUS.

The Ford-Belarus joint venture announced in Minsk yesterday that it has suspended operations at its plant there. The plant assembles Ford Escort and Ford Transit cars and vans at a rate of some 6,000 annually, mostly for export to Russia. The company cited Russia’s financial crisis as the reason for halting the production (UPI, October 1).

The Ford plant has been the only significant Western joint venture in Belarus. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who is keen to attract Western investment to Belarus despite everything, was fond of citing the Ford plant as evidence that Belarus can serve as a profitable conduit to the Russian market.

SOLANA IN BAKU.