OREANDA-NEWS. On 25 June 2008 was announced, that the Deputy Minister of Economy Vahram Ghushchyan met with the representatives of UNIDO. The Head of the UNIDO operations in Armenia Anahit Simonyan, the President of the "Vienna" consortium Viktor Zakaryan, the General Director of the Fund "ALARIS" Alexander Aygner and the responsible of the Council Sepuh Baghdoyan were present at the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting Mr. Ghushchyan emphasized two issues for Armenia on the way of integration into the international market. The first issue is the big technological and productivity gap between Armenia and European Union and the second is- the same gap between Yerevan and the regions of Armenia.

"First of all, we have to overcome that disproportion in our country, which will cement the position of Armenia in Europe. For this reason the regions of the country require more support and attention"- said Mr. Ghushchyan.

The guests informed about their visit to Gegharquniq (the region in Armenia), their meeting with marzpet and other representatives of the municipality and discussions on the further cooperation programs. The General Director of the Fund "ALARIS" Alexander Aygner mentioned that the Fund is interested in investments and cooperation especially with the regions where the tourism, agriculture and other spheres of economy could be developed and extended more successfully. The visitors were interested in the region of Gegharquniq the most.

With initiative of the UN Industrial Development Organization and the group of the Austrian privet investors, as the continuation of the cooperation with the region Gegharquniq, in March of the current year the consortium "Vienna" was established. It is aimed at implementation of the investment and development programs in the region.

Focusing on the primary goals of the program, Mr. Aygner emphasized the importance of the expert-consultants training to make investment processes more targeted and productive, and also signing trade contracts with new small and medium size enterprises to promote their business.

With the proposal of the Deputy minister V.Ghushchyan, sides agreed to send the Armenian students of the Agro business Teaching Centre /at the Agricultural Academy/ to Austria for training. On homecoming, they will participate on the implementation of the consortium's programs, because being Armenian, they imagine existing problems better and can find more productive ways for their salvation.

Visitors approved the offer, hoping, that at the next meeting they will put into life the reached agreement.