Favorable investment climate in a country will definitely attract potential investors. Over the past years, Armenian authorities have made efforts to improve it in terms of business registration, as well as increased transparency of tax and customs administration. Also, actions were undertaken to boost quality of legal procedures aimed to protect business interests. However, much work will needs to be done. See more on this in an interview of senior legal consultant of Ameria Group of Companies Georgy Khachatryan with PanARMENIAN.Net.

The Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) signed a free trade agreement on October 18, 2011. The document, which is meant to replace a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements, was signed by all the CIS member states except Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, which can, anyway, join it later. Head of the department of trade and market management at the Armenian Ministry of Economy Gagik Kocharyan commented on the deal in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

On October 6-8, 2011, Yerevan will host the 1st joint conference of the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD) and International Association of Exchanges of CIS Countries (IAEx of CIS) titled “Global Opportunities of Local Markets: Infrastructure and Management.” The organizers of the event, which will bring together representatives of the central depositories and exchanges from CIS countries as well as managers from Thomas Murray, SWIFT, Vnesheconombank, Euroclear, Clearstream, etc., are the Central Depositary of Armenia (CDA) and Nasdaq OMX Armenia. In an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net, CDA director Vahan Stepanyan commented on the issues to be in the focus of the conference and results expected.

Armenia has been famous for its jewelers since the ancient times. However, after expiration of the agreement with Russia on cooperation in diamond industry, most of plants were shut down. Things got even worse during the crisis. However, the Armenian government is determined to take every effort to restore the potential of the field. First Deputy Economy Minister Karine Minasyan commented on the steps taken in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

The public interest in international stock market is growing. Being an investment bank, Ameriabank cjsc continues creating new opportunities to allow its clients to strike deals at various stock markets 24/7. In an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net, senior specialist at the bank's trade department Edgar Petrosyan elaborates on the profitable investments Armenian traders can make with the use of modern technical solutions.

Energy security and sufficiency remain among the most important tasks for Armenia, which strengthens relations with its neighbors through diversification of its energy resources. Specifically, Armenia implements a number of ambitious joint projects with Iran. In an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net, Armenia's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan commented on the implementation process as well as on talks for oil pipeline construction and forthcoming visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In 2010, Armenian government took some measures to regulate the cigarette market and determine approaches to local manufacturers and importers. Regional manager of Armenian representation of Philip Morris Management Services B. V., the major cigarette importer in Armenia, Mr. Sargis Tsaghikyan commented on the company's future plans in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

Following its strategy of introducing innovative solutions to the banking market, Ameriabank adopted a new tool – classical factoring. The bank’s factoring division specialist Angela Khachatryan commented on the product’s features and advantages in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

Leszek Balcerowiczis, Polish economist, former chairman of the National Bank of Poland and Deputy Prime Minister in Tadeusz Mazowiecki's government, who is famous for implementing the Polish economic transformation program, commonly known as shock therapy in the 1990s, visited Armenia lately to attend “Armenia after crisis: challenges and perspectives” conference. In an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net, Mr. Balcerowiczis commented on crisis-prevention tools and prospects of Armenian-Polish relations.

2009 was a hard year for Yerevan Brandy Company, its downswing reaching 35%. However, YBC cut grapes purchases by 10% only and registered a 10% growth in sales volumes in July-August 2010. To tackle the crisis, the Company management took a number of measures, including research to expand the sales market, investments and re-equipment of the bottling workshop. YBC executive director Ara Grigoryan commented on the Company's future plans to PanARMENIAN.Net.