DEVELOPOMENT PROSPECTS OF ARMENIAN GEM AND JEWELRY INDUSTRY CONNECTED WITH "ALROSA"
Noyan Tapan
Jan 24, 2008
YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The development prospects of the
Armenian gem and jewelry industry are connected to cooperation with
Alrosa compamy (Russia), with the focus to be shifted from diamond
cutting to jewelry making where Armenia will have relative advantages,
the RA minister of trade and economic development Nerses Yeritsian
stated at the Janaury 23 press conference.
An agreement on cooperation in the gem and jewelry industry was signed
between Alrosa company and the Armenian government in late 2007. The
agreement envisages supplying Armenian companies with rough diamonds
by Alrosa through direct contracts – for their later sale to Russian or
Armenian jewelry making companies on the instructions of Alrosa OJSC.
The ministry’s monitoring showed that production of 43.2 bln drams
(about 126.3 mln USD) was made in Armenia in 2007, production of 38.4
bln drams was sold, that of 41.5 bln drams was exported. The sector
employs about 2 thousand people, whose average salary makes 64 thousand
drams. A complex program of the sector’s reforms is being developed.