March 1998

by Armen Vahradyan

Armenia's Ararat Province lies in the southwestern part of the country on the border with Turkey and the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan. With a population of 306,900, the province has an economy diversified among agriculture, food-processing, light industry, and the production of building materials. A number of local enterprises are looking for foreign business partners.

Ararat Province's four major cities--Artashat (the capital), Ararat, Masis, and Vedi--are home to more than 80 percent of Ararat's population and most of its industry. The province has 55 medium-sized and large enterprises involved in electronics, apparel, construction, and food processing. Eighty percent of these have been privatized. The province's overall industrial output fell 25.5 percent in the first half of 1997, reflecting general economic conditions in Armenia.

Ararat Province has good access to international transportation. The nearest air-cargo and air-passenger facilities to Ararat Province are at Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport, which is located just north of Artashat. A number of Yerevan-based freight forwarders and at least three U.S. shipping agents (Seaborne International Inc. of Inglewood, California; World Wide Cargo of Houston, Texas; and American Export Lines of Jamaica, New York) provide service to destinations in the province. The province's local transportation infrastructure benefits from the World Bank's "Highways and Bridges" program, which grants small contracts to local companies to repair roads all over Armenia, including Ararat Province.

Agriculture
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the region's economy. The province has 104,000 acres of agricultural land, of which 50 percent is arable and 30 percent is orchards and vineyards. The Khosrov forest reserve, the largest in Armenia, is in the northeastern part of the province. More than 40 percent of Ararat's medium-sized and large enterprises process fruit and vegetables produced by local farms.

Five wineries located in Artashat produce brands popular throughout Armenia. The Artashat Winery-Cognac Factory is one of the largest and oldest in the province and currently exports 50 percent of its production. The winery is looking for a U.S. firm to upgrade its production facilities and assist in exporting its products. Another important local food-processing company is the Artashat Canning Factory, which produces preserves, juices, pickles, and jams and would like to establish a joint venture with a U.S. firm to produce fruit juices.

Building Materials
Ararat Province has a limited range of mineral deposits, which are primarily exploited as building materials: marble, onyx, travertine, sand, and hyperdiatomite, as well as sources of mineral water. Ararat Cement Plant, one of the province's largest companies, accounts for 50 percent of the industrial production of the province, though it utilizes only 20-25 percent of its production capacity of 1.8 million tons of cement per year.
Armgold, the Armenian State Gold Corporation, established a joint venture with Global Gold and First Dynasty Mines (U.S.) to build a plant in the city of Ararat to reprocess 12 million tons of gold tailings accumulated near the city. The Vedi Construction Materials Plant (VCMP) mines travertine deposits, producing slabs and construction blocks. VCMP exports to Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, and Russia. It is looking for a U.S. company to participate in upgrading its production facilities and assist in exports. For more information on business opportunities in the province, contact Samvel Minasy, Head of Programs, Forecasting, and Foreign Relations in the Office of the Governor, at 011 374 (45) 205-77 or 230-95 (voice) or 011 374 (2) 284-331 (fax). For more information on the local companies mentioned in this article, visit BISNIS Online at www.mac.doc.gov/bisnis/cables/971217ar.htm.

Armen Vahradyan formerly worked for BISNIS in Yerevan.

This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS)