YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–A consortium of US investors which has until now focused its activities on Central and Eastern Europe is prepared to invest heavily in various sectors of the Armenian economy–it was announced on Thursday.
A visiting high-ranking delegation from the US King Group discussed far-reaching commercial projects with officials from the Armenian ministry of industry and trade. A senior King Group executive–Boris Weisser–said the consortium has conducted a three-year study of CIS economies and has decided to get a foothold in Armenia. "I have brought this group of businessmen here because I believe that that stability is more or less in place in Armenia," Weisser said after the meeting.
The delegation will meet government officials and visit business enterprises across the country during his week-long visit. According to Weisser–the King Group has already submitted 11 detailed investment projects to the government. The consortium plans to start from the telecommunication and service sectors.
According to Eduard Iordanian of the Armenian firm Business Invest–which has consulted the US investors for the past three years–the first deals involving the sell-off of three big hotels in Yerevan will be sealed in the next two weeks. He said the Americans offer to turn the city’s largest Soviet-era department store into a modern telecommunications center.
The King Group’s investment proposals also involve diamond-cutting–the chemical and textile industries–mechanical engineering as well as tourism.
The volume of its investment commitmen’s is not clear yet. The American business executives say they have sufficient capital to invest in all promising sectors of the Armenian economy.