Alina Hovhannisyan. In the village of Aramus, Kotayk region, a plant will be established in late October specialized in production of equipment from stainless steel for the hotel and restaurant business. The investor of the plant is ARGA-Eurosteel, founded by two Lebanese companies – Saltek and Giro Stainless Steel. The corresponding memorandum on cooperation was signed on 20 July by Hayk Mirzoyan, the head of Business Armenia Business Support Group, and Garen Salkhanian, the CEO of ARGA-Eurosteel, who is the son of Saltek founder Garo Salhanian.

According to Mirzoyan, the preliminary amount of investments of $ 850 thousand was envisaged, but according to preliminary calculations, investments already exceeded $ 1 million. The plant, which was founded by Saltek in cooperation with Giro Stainless Steel, will provide 24 jobs. The average salary, depending on the specialization of the employee, will total about 300 thousand drams. "The launch of such a production will allow Armenian entrepreneurs to purchase the necessary equipment in the domestic market," he said. Mirzoyan stressed that the equipment will be of high quality, since it is initially planned to receive certification of compliance with international standards.

In addition, according to the representative of the Foundation, within the framework of cooperation, discussions are held about the possibility of obtaining assistance in the framework of the state program, exemption from payment of customs duties for the import of raw materials and prolongation of the terms of VAT payments. Answering the question of ArmInfo, Garen Salkhanian noted that it is planned to import raw materials for the production of equipment from India. He also noted that similar factories are operating in Armenia, but production in the Kotayk region will differ by its high quality, since the investor company has certificates of compliance with ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 standards. "We decided to found the plant in Armenia, as we see a high potential in this field", the Lebanese businessman emphasized. The production will also be exported to the markets of the EEU countries, Georgia, Ukraine and Iran. During the press conference G. Salkhanian said that this is not the only investment project of the company in Armenia. Saltek intends to invest about $ 2 million in the project for the production of solar panels and about $ 1 million for the modernization of night lighting in Yerevan. To note, Saltek company was founded in 1978 and is one of leading firms on manufacture of modern baking and other equipment in the Middle East. The company employs 120 people.