THE CONFERENCE ON “PRESENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF KALININGRAD PROVINCE” HELD IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS:One-day conference on “Presentation of the Economic Potential of Kaliningrad Province” was held today in the “Moscow House” cultural- business center within the framework of days of Kaliningrad province in Armenia June 18-19. Governor of the province of Kaliningrad Georgi Boss, Economy Minister of the province Alexandra Smirnova, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Fish-industry took part in the conference held with the support of Armenian Development Agency and shared the secret of the development of their province with their Armenian partners. The delegation headed by the governor consists of the chairmen of Trade-Industrial Chamber, Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen, as well as construction, logistics, power engineering, informational technologies, public health, fish industry and other specialists. Minister of Economy of the province said that several factors promote the development of the province. The first one is the favorable geographical position; the province is close to a number of European countries due to which its integration to the international market takes place quite quickly. The second peculiarity is that Kaliningrad is rich in natural resources, it has mines of amber which is considered to be a precious stone. According to her, first of all the development of small and medium businesses promotes the economic development of the province. “Kaliningrad’s authorities work transparently and open due to which the corruption risks are brought to the minimum,” A. Smirnova said. She said that the trade relations between Armenia and Kaliningrad aren’t on a very good level. Agricultural good is exported to Kaliningrad from Armenia and construction material is being imported. At press conference G. Boss noted that Kaliningrad will expand its cooperation with Armenia in different spheres. “First of all it will be the sphere of precious stones. We have amber mines, I think we may have common interests. We may cooperate in the spheres of construction materials and agriculture. Now we cannot enumerate all the possible spheres of cooperation, life will show”, - the governor said. The governor noted with regret that the volume of trade turnover between the two sides is quite small. Within the framework of the conference an exhibition-sale of the products representing Kaliningrad took place in “Moscow House”. 25 participant companies presented production spheres of carpets, jewelry, precious stones, meat, sea goods, and alcoholic drinks. Russian Ambassador to Armenia Nikolay Pavlov considering Armenia Russia’s strategic partner, noted that in the running year the presidents of the two countries have met 7 times. “It testifies the efficiency of the dialogue and mutual interest towards each other,” the ambassador said. The population of the province is less than 1 mln. , 15 000 of them are Armenians.