President attends opening of Yerevan Show -2017 jewelry exhibition and the launch of new production facility by Alex Textile Company

President Serzh Sargsyan and Mrs. Rita Sargsyan attended today the opening of the 8th International Exhibition of Jewelry and Watch-Making, referred to as Yerevan Show -2017, which is to be held on October 5-8 at Meridian exhibition center in Yerevan.

Accompanied by a group of government officials and exhibition organizers, the President toured the exhibition, which is hosted by the World Association of Armenian Jewelers (AJA) and is located at the jewelry free economic zone. The Head of State viewed the jewelry articles manufactured by domestic and foreign companies, the jewelry production equipment on display and the products made of diamond, precious and semi-precious stones. President Sargsyan got acquainted with the activities and programs of participating companies.

The already traditional event has brought together 70 companies from 6 countries (Armenia, Russia, USA, Switzerland, Belarus and Turkey). It seeks to promote the development of jewelry and diamond industries in Armenia, as well as help establish cooperation between Armenian and foreign companies in the given sectors. In the exhibition center, President Sargsyan also watched the paintings presented by the Union of Armenian Artists.

After visiting the jewelry exhibition, the President of Armenia called at one of the leading light industry companies in Armenia, Alex Textile, where he attended the launch of the company’s new clothing production workshop. During the presentation, the founders of Alex Textile briefed the Head of State on the Company’s ongoing activities and development programs.

After touring the newly opened workshop, Serzh Sargsyan got acquainted with the project of the new-built clothing facility and the work to be done ahead. The President was told that the construction of the new facility, which has a total area of 35 thousand square meters, started in March, 2017. According to preliminary estimates, about 7 million euros will be invested, resulting in a total of 3,000 new jobs.

Serzh Sargsyan next called at the Company’s knitwear sewing workshop, which employs some 470 people. Samvel Karapetyan, a member of the Armenian Investor Club, has invested over 1 million euros in the project. President Sargsyan got acquainted with the investments made so far and the factory’s output capacity.

Alex Textile has also launched a new workshop, where Samvel Karapetyan and French-Armenian businessmen father and son Jijiryans invested more than 2 million euros. Alex Textile is going to step up the output in 2018 and create several new jobs. In particular, a new factory is being built in Artashat on a site of about 30 thousand square meters, which used to be Artashat’s former sewing factory and was purchased last year by Alex Textile.

Reconstruction work has already kicked off and an investment of about 25 million euros will be made to result in a clothing factory with a total capacity of at least 15 tons per day and around 400 jobs. Work is underway on the establishment of towel and home textile producing facilities in Artashat. About 20 thousand square meter-wide premises belonging to the Artashat mechanical plant are being refurbished at this point of time. The total amount of investment will make about 10 million euros; at the initial stage the plant will have some 500 employees.

Alex Textile has acquired about 50 thousand meter-wide premises in Masis town, which will host a cotton wire mill. The company executives said that efforts are underway to that effect.