Hrant Vardanyan: Masis Tobacco operates without downtimeSeptember 25, 2009 - 14:51 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Masis Tobacco operates without downtime and has not incurred the crisis impact, Grand Holding owner Hrant Vardanyan told journalists. The factory, he said, has 1600 permanent employees and 1050 seasonal workers. "Crisis has not affected our work; on the contrary, we had new job openings. All difficulties are possible to overcome if one uses common sense. Over the whole period of our work we have never sought Government's financial assistance," entrepreneur said, adding that per kilogram price for tobacco leaves comprised AMD 73 which the company paid to villagers.Touching on possible opening of Armenian-Turkish border, Vardanyan noted that it created good opportunities for Armenia, considering Turkey's big market. "Our businessmen's concerns that cheap Turkish products might oppress local manufacturers are unfounded. I think Government will make relevant amendments to customs policy legislation, protecting Armenian goods from damping prices," entrepreneur stressed. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine |