ArmInfo. Chinese investors are planning to invest $ 35-50 million in the production of gas turbine generators in the ''Alliance'' free economic zone in Armenia. This was announced by the President of the Russian Foundation "Strategy" Metso Igityan during a press conference in Yerevan on October 19.
In the future, as expected, the volume of investments, as well as the areas of cooperation, will be expanded. According to him, a delegation of entrepreneurs from Beijing, Macau and Hong Kong has been in Armenia for over a week. "The result of their stay was that the Head of the Chinese delegation and Head of the international direction in a large consulting association in China, which unites 280 thousand enterprises, Mr. Qian (Wei Min Qian) decided to stay in Armenia, open an office here, since there are already specific ideas regarding tourism, light industry, machine tools and metalworking, "he said.
More specifically, according to the Vice-President of the Russian Foundation "Strategy" Samvel Asmaryan, following the results of the first weekly study tour in Armenia, today there is an agreement to launch the production of gas turbine generators in the territory of the ''Mars'' plant in the ''Alliance'' FEZ. The planned investment will be from $ 35 million to $ 50 million, the project will open about 700-1000 jobs. Turbines will be shipped to approximately 30-40 countries, including Iran, African countries, to the USA, Turkey, Australia. The volume of annual sales of turbines, which, as experts have assured, will allow saving up to 30% of hydrocarbon fuel, in the future can be measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.
There are no specific deadlines for the project implementation everything is at the design stage. Most importantly, according to the initiators of the project, an agreement has already been reached. In general, as Igityan pointed out, preparation - documentation and design, as well as the start of production will take about 2.5-3 years. As the Head of the ''Alliance'' FEZ Arsen Sarkisyan informed, the process of registration of this company in the FEZ has already been launched. By the end of the year, the government is expected to approve this application. Later the initiator of the project will resolve technical issues. The day before, as he stated, the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia confirmed its readiness to assist this project. "Armenian legislation promotes investment," said Mr Wei Min Qian. ''On the territory of the republic there are FEZs where it is possible to develop profitable production''. Already today, as Qian pointed out, Chinese investors are showing interest in the fields of construction, tourism, renewable energy, the creation of waste recycling enterprises, the construction of subways and railways, green cities and the production of electric buses.
Metso Igityan also reminded about the project "One Belt - One Way", of which Armenia is a part. Under the initiative, China is interested in the participation of Armenia, primarily as a logistics chain. "Armenia is the gateway to Iran with its 80 million population and to the Eurasian space. Our Chinese friends are also interested in the Meghri free economic zone. They want to create an exhibition and fair center where Chinese companies will be able to present their products," he said. According to the head of the Russian Strategy Foundation, in Armenia it will also be possible to organize the production of Chinese products. At the next stage, the discussion will deal with the acquisition of technologies, licenses and the production of its own products and technologies. There are great prospects in the field of blockchain, Smart City projects (smart cities).
In order to facilitate cooperation between the authorities of Armenia and Chinese investors, a working group will be set up.