KOCHARIAN DISCUSSES ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOSTING WITH REGIONAL BUSINESSMEN

Armenpress
Jun 21 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS: The press office of the Armenian
president said Robert Kocharian met today with a group of businessmen
to discuss ways to boost development of small and medium-sized
entrepreneurship.

Kocharian cited official figures which say that small and medium
sized businesses constitute 40 percent of the overall GDP and 16
percent of exports.

These figures, according to the president, testify to the dynamic
development of this sector. "It is very difficult to find someone
in Armenia who would not like to run his own business and in this
sense it is a strong aspiration to manage their own destiny and this
can become a serious incentive to enhancing small and medium-sized
businesses," he was quoted as saying.

Kocharian urged the businessmen, who arrived from all Armenian
regions, to start open debates on what blocks their businesses and
what the government should do to eliminate them. The businessmen, in
particular, complained of frequent inspections by financial inspectors,
inaccessibility of regional businessmen to skilled advice and some
legislative shortcomings.

The press office said Kocharian and businessmen discussed in detail
the question of low interest loans and expansion of leasing services,
as well as fluctuations of US Dollar-Armenian dram exchange rates. In
the end Kocharian promised that all raised issues will be discussed
once again and final solutions will be found.