On March 20, at the Shirak Regional Governor’s Office, local businessmen met with Vazgen Safaryan (president of the Hayrenakan Product Manufacturers Union) and Hayk Mirzoyan (director of the Manufacturing development Foundation) to discuss strategies aimed at spurring the local manufacture sector.

Also on hand to discuss the problems faced by local manufacturers were representatives of several credit agencies.

Safaryan pointed out that out of the 1.2 trillion AMD in goods manufactured in Armenia last year, the province of Shirak had contributed a mere 42 billion.

“For us, this is neither understandable nor acceptable given that Gyumri was a major manufacturing center in the past,” Safaryan said.

Safaryan urged the attendees to explore new avenues to expand manufacturing in Shirak on the eve of Armenia’s entry into the Customs Union.

The businessmen noted that the major problem they face is the scarcity of financing and the difficulty of receiving loans.

Shirak Regional Governor Feliks Tsolakyan said that all such meetings were futile is sufficient long-term credit wasn’t made available to domestic manufacturers.