Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan attended the opening of the International Wine Forum held in Yerevan November 23-24.
“Armenia is actually experiencing a revival of wine industry,” the Prime Minister said in his opening remarks. “While conserving our deeply rooted winemaking traditions, we combine them with modern state-of-the-art technology and research capacity. By saying Armenian wine, we understand more than 6,000 years of history, traditions, culture, dedication and love of grape vine and wine.”
“The Government has declared winemaking as a priority sector of the economy. We have established the Armenian Vineyard and Winemaking Foundation to promote viticulture in the country, upgrade the country’s winemaking rating and competitiveness in the international arena, step up exports and raise Armenia’s attractiveness as a wine-making country,” the Prime Minister said.
“Our ultimate goal is to make of Armenian wine an internationally recognized brand, attract new investments in winemaking industry, boost export volumes, and secure a solid and sustained place on the global map of winemaking industry,” he added.
According to PM Karapetyan, the trends are quite positive. “About 7.5 million liters of wine was produced last year in Armenia, which is 14% more than in 2015. We also have a sound index of export: more than 1.8 million liters of wine was exported in 2016, which is 37% higher than in 2015. My partners have promised that the aforementioned positive dynamics will be maintained in 2017, though the analysis is not complete yet.”
The Head of Government said that Armenian wineries are equipped with French, Italian, German technology and equipment. Investments have come from Argentine, the United States, Switzerland and Italy, including from the Armenian Diaspora.
“It is also gratifying to witness a drastic increase in domestic investment. This is important since domestic investment can trigger an influx of foreign investment. Armenia is open for attracting large-scale investment in winemaking, viticulture and other spheres, and we are ready to work with our partners to provide the best possible business environment for investors. As far as this forum is concerned, I believe it to be a unique platform for discussing global trends and best practices in wine industry with the world’s best experts, establishing business contacts for the development of Armenia’s winemaking sector, and formulating new mutually beneficial projects with our international partners,” Karen Karapetyan said.
The Prime Minister expressed the hope that the conference would result in more targeted and specific steps aimed at developing the sector.
Referred to as “The global trends and best practices in winemaking: conclusions and recommendations for Armenia,” the international wine forum is hosted by the Armenian Vineyard and Winemaking Foundation.
The forum seeks to provide stakeholders and companies with a cross-border platform to identify new development vectors, attract investments, build professional capacity and discuss the prospects for the furtherance of business and scientific cooperation.
