ArmInfo.The restoration of the existing industrial structures should become one of the priorities of the Kotayk region rather than development of agriculture and tourism opportunities. Coordinator of the EU initiative "Mayors for Economic Growth" for the Eastern Partnership region Sevak Hovhannisyan expressed such an opinion during panel discussions dedicated to the production and economic potential of the Kotayk region and investment opportunities within the framework of the forum "My Step for Kotayk Region".
''We can still restore the industrial-production culture that we previously had. In the context of 10 years, I see Kotayk as a military industrial complex and industrial center of Armenia'', he emphasized. Continuing what was said, the expert noted that this region was the industrial center of Armenia back in Soviet times, when the lion's share of industrial production, in particular machine and equipment engineering and technological production, was occupied precisely by the cities of Kotayk region, in particular, Hrazdan, Charentsavan, Abovyan and others.
Regarding the instruments for attracting investments in the regions Hovhannisyan emphasized that in this issue cooperation is important rather than stimulation. ''Investments are always the result of a complex cooperation process. And in this regard, the involvement of all parties, including communities, residents, the state, plays a key role,'' he said. In this regard, Hovhannisyan spoke about a previous meeting with representatives of local self-government, who noted that developing a business in the community is quite a costly process. ''That is, the community itself is not interested in this, while in Europe there is intense competition between the communities for attracting investments. This is a problem that needs to be addressed'', he said, stressing that within the framework of decentralization, communities need funds for business development. At the same time, among the problems in the regions, Hovhannisyan pointed to the lack of general plans for community development among municipalities. It should be noted that, according to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the volume of industrial production in Armenia in the first half of 2019 increased by 6.9% compared to the same period in 2018 (against an increase of 3.7% a year earlier), amounting to 900.5 billion drams ($ 1.8 billion). The acceleration of industrial sector growth is due to a change in the trend of the mining sector from downward to upward and the continued growth of the manufacturing sector.