YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The development of mining industry in Armenia creates an opportunity to attract investments to chemical and machine-building sectors, the RA minister of trade and economic development Nerses Yeritsian stated at the January 23 press conference. "We have begun discussions with the private sector on how these invetsments may be directed," the minister said, adding that foreign investors also have some plans of deepening the processing cycle of mineral resources mined in Armenia. In his words, it is envisaged to promote development of mining and chemical industries by considering them as a cluster, which will encourage their cooperation and efficient use of raw materials. N. Yeritsian expressed an opinion that a shift from big to small chemistry should be made so that "we will be able to produce the maximal result, including in terms of intergation into global markets". He said that British Rhinoville company, the owner of Armenia's biggest chemical plant Nairit, is making considerable target investments. "We should be able to form the whole cluster in order to develop - based on its raw materials - a new chemical industry which will be competitive and modern from technological point of view," N. Yeritsian said. Poduction of mining industry and metallurgy grew by 6.6%, exports by 7.1% in 2007 on 2006. Production of chemical industry grew by 20.4% thanks to increased capacities of Nairit Plant CJSC and relaunching of Prometey-Khimprom CJSC (Vanadzor).

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