President makes working visit to Armavir and Aragatsotn marzes

President Serzh Sargsyan today made a working visit to Armavir and Aragatsotn marzes.

The Armenian President visited the newly-built administrative and first dwelling building of Armavir Criminal-Executive Establishment. Accompanied by executives and the US ambassador to Armenia, the representatives of the OSCE Office and a number of international organizations and other guests who had been invited on the occasion of the opening of the institution, Serzh Sargsyan familiarized with the works implemented and the conditions of the institution having been built in accordance with international standards.

According to executives, the operation of the first subsidiary building of Armavir Criminal-Executive Establishment will allow lightening the burden of other overloaded criminal-executive establishments by moving 400 convicts to Armavir. The establishment is planned to be fully put into operation in two phases. In the first phase, the administrative, quarantine and hospital parts of the establishment, as well as its dwelling section for 400 convicts are put into operation. In the second phase, by the end of 2015, a dwelling section for another 800 convicts comprised of two subsidiary buildings will be put into operation.

Executives consider the reforms being implemented in the area of the RA criminal and criminal procedure legislation and the creation of a probation service within the RA Ministry of Justice as an important tool for tackling the overloading of criminal-executive establishments which will allow decreasing the number of persons kept in criminal-executive establishments by 25 percent with the help of increasing the specific weight of alternative precautionary measures and other types of punishment non-related to imprisonment.

The President left Armavir for Aragatsotn marz where he visited the factory of Armenia Wine LLC in Sasunik community. Serzh Sargsyan toured the workshops of the factory, familiarized with the factory’s productive capacity, the new investments made by the company, its achievements and further development projects. During the tour, the President was informed that from 2008 to 2011, the company had made an investment equivalent to about 9.5 million euros in order to organize wine, brandy and vodka production. These investments had been directed at setting up a grape reception area, the first workshop for wine production, a spirits storehouse, workshops for alcohol mixture and bottling, as well as at acquiring technological equipment. From 2012-2014, the company has continued to make large investments in the areas of wine and brandy production, as well as with the aim of organizing sparkling wine production. An investment of 5.617 billion drams has been made.

A wine storehouse, a wine and brandy cellar, a new machine house for brandy grape reception and a vinification workshop, a new warehouse, an administrative building, a new laboratory and a technical service center have been built and put into operation. The distilling workshop for brandy spirits has also been expanded. The workshops of the factory have been saturated with modern wine-making technological equipment imported from France, Italy, Germany and Belgium.

The company is one of Armenia’s largest organizations which specialize in grape storage. Today it employs 200 workers whose average salary comprises around 160 thousand drams. Presently, the company produces vodka and wine.

In the presence of the President, today the first bottling ceremony of the “Armenia” champagne took place at the factory of Armenia Wine LLC. The bottling of brandy is planned to start at the end of 2015.

Serzh Sargsyan wished the company success in its current activities and implementing its development projects, underlining that the company’s success is also important in terms of making Armenian brands more competitive internationally.