On December 12, 2020, the RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan had a meeting with the representatives of greenhouse enterprises of Armenia, as well as with the business entities engaged in intensive gardening.

The RA Deputy Minister of Economy Arman Khojoyan participated in the meetings.

The Minister informed that the main purpose of the meeting is to inventory the existing problems of the greenhouse enterprises and in the field of horticulture and try to find means for their solution. Vahan Kerobyan then presented his approaches. He noted that currently one of the main problems of doing business is the availability of financial resources, the absence of the capital market, and administrative barriers.

The representatives of the greenhouse enterprises presented their main problems to the Minister and offered possible solutions thereof. In particular, the transport problem was emphasized with regard to exportation, whereby it was suggested to pay attention to the issue of alternative routes.

The participants of the meeting also emphasized the issue of consolidation of land. The need of recruiting qualified specialists in this area was stressed.

During the meeting, the issues of standards, product quality, registration, and importation of fertilizers and pesticides were also discussed. Views were exchanged with regard to the priorities of the government policy in the field of agriculture, the toolkit of the state assistance, support programs, and regulations of the current legislative framework.

Issues related to marketing of local agricultural products, increasing the competitiveness of greenhouse products in the foreign market, efficient organization of exportation, expansion of sales markets, and attraction of investments were discussed. The importance of providing logistical chains for storage, sorting, packaging, transportation, and export-intended sale of agricultural products was specified.

During the discussion with the Minister of the existing problems in the field of horticulture and possible means for their solution, a number of business entities engaged in intensive gardening in different regions of the country particularly singled out the need to increase the level of professional knowledge of those involved in the field, establish the Armenian school of intensive gardening, upgrade the equipment used in the sector, as well as the importance of establishing refrigerating facilities for promotion of preservation and exportation of agricultural products.

A number of issues related to improvement of irrigation systems for the development of intensive gardening and reduction of unused land were also discussed.

Reference was made to the program on the “State assistance for establishment of vineyards, intensive orchards of fruit trees and berry fields cultivated in Armenia with modern technologies”, within the framework of which until December 31, 2020, the beneficiaries will have access to loans at 0% interest rate.

Vahan Kerobyan informed the participants of these meetings that such discussions will have a continuous nature, the Ministry will focus on the issues raised, and joint efforts will be directed to the solution of the problems.