YEREVAN, August 22. /ARКА/. Тhe Armenian government decided today to award tax and customs benefits to three companies, which have pledged to make investments to the tune of 11.3 billion drams.

Economy Minister Tigran Khachatryan said one of these companies is AFA CJSC, which is going to start production of brake pads in Yerevan. At the moment, production is located in the United Arab Emirates, and the company is in the process of relocating it to Armenia.

The company will invest 300 million drams to buy new equipment, raw materials and to repair   production premises. During the first year, 20 new jobs will be created with an average salary of 150 thousand drams.

The textile company Lentex in the second-largest town of Gyumri was also awarded benefits. It has promised to create 50 new jobs with an average salary of 60 thousand drams. The company plans to increase the output to 4.5 billion drams and sell 1.4 billion drams worth goods in Armenia.

The company PROF AL was also awarded benefits. It intends to make capital investments in the amount of 1 billion drams in the purchase of equipment and repair the production building. Another 8.2 billion drams will be used to purchase raw materials. It  plans to create 50 jobs with an average salary of 280 thousand drams. The total volume of production will be 20 billion drams, of which 12 billion will be sold in Armenia. ($ 1 – 475.94 drams). –0–