Armenia’s diamond-cutting industry is developing quite actively, exporting last year $380 million worth processed stones, Deputy Minister of Economy Narek Teryan said.
"This year this figure will be much bigger; I don't want to say a specific figure, but we are close to doubling it," he said when speaking at the Armenian Business Portal telegram channel.
Teryan spoke about the recently established state company Hay-Almast (Armenian Diamond), which is essentially an aggregator of unprocessed stones, i.e. it buys them and resells to local diamond-cutting companies for processing.
"And thanks to this project and the reforms we are implementing, only this year 4 new diamond processing manufacturers have opened in Armenia, mainly in the city of Abovyan," the deputy minister noted.
He added that Hay-Almast is currently negotiating with both a major European company and a number of companies in the American region to conclude a long-term contract for the supply of rough stones.
"I would like to note that we are not fixed on one supplier or counterparty, we are expanding the geography in order not to depend on one country and one counterparty,' said the deputy minister.
According to him, a rather ambitious goal has been set to reach $ 1 billion worth exports of processed diamonds.
"We are approaching this goal. I don't want to make forecasts, but we are working on the realization of this goal," - said Teryan, ARKA reports.
