YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. On October 26, after two years of modernization, Yerevan's RusAl ArmenAl Plant (former Kanaker Aluminium Plant) was again put into operation. The plant is part of RusAl company which is among the three leading aluminium producing companies in the world. During the ceremony of relaunching the plant, which was attended by Armenian and Russian state officials and businessmen, the Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian said that the reopeing of RusAl ArmenAl is important not only in terms of developing the Armenian economy but it is also one of the best examples of the Armenian-Russian economic cooperation. He expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the re-equipment of the plant was done in a record period - two years instead of the planned 10 years. He pointed out that problems related to labor and environmental protection have been solved at the plant. Aksel Bartel, President of the German company Achenbach Bushhutten - the contractor of the plant's modernization, in his turn noted that all 6 rolling mills for foil production have been modernized. In his words, their company will continue servicing the equipment installed. To recap, the work on relaunching RusAl ArmenAl started in November 2004, its first stage being completed in December 2005. According to Alexander Livshits, Deputy Director of RusAl, Russia has no plant like ArmenAl, which is the best in Europe by its productivity and modernization level. The plant employs 700 people (another 300 work at the servicing company ArmenAl Service) and already started exporting its production. It is envisaged that starting from mid 2007, ArmenAl will operate with the capacity of 25 thousand tons of foil a year. In A. Livshits' words, the programs to increase the plant's capacity to 40 thousand tons annually are being developed. He noted that the plant has no problems with its production sale, as agreements have been reached to export 97% of production to Europe. In the total volume, the production of foil of 6-8 microns' thickness (which is the most demanded one) will make 18 thousand tons. Georgy Avetikian, Director General of RusAl ArmenAl, said previously that RusAl envisaged 70 million dollars for ArmenAl's re-equipment, 30-35% of which (about 20 million dollars) was paid to 7-8 Armenian enterprises as salary and payment for equipment. According to him, the cost of the agreement signed with Achenbach is 50 mln dollars, while the remaining 20 million is RusAl's direct allocations to ArmenAl.

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