On February 2, the Minister of Economic Development of RA Suren Karayan received delegation headed by the President and Chief Executive Officer of “LYDIAN INTERNATIONAL” LTD Howard Stevenson.

Greeting the guests, the Minister expressed satisfaction over the activity of the company and added that he is willing to listen to their problems and suggestions.

“I am happy for the launch of the program and I hope that the construction will be continued, the company will start its activity and will release its first product in March, 2018,” said Suren Karayan, mentioning that the Government stresses the importance of the program which will promote the development of the mining sector in Armenia.

Howard Stevenson expressed gratitude to the Minister Karayan for the reception and informed that the construction in Jermuk is being continued and that the first gold bar will be released in March, 2018.

“So far we found the Armenian Government very easy to work with as it is very open and very responsive to our suggestions and our requests. We are going to implement this project over the course of the next 18 months between now and 2018. We’re going to invest about 370 million dollars over that time and ultimately we are going to employ 700 people on full time employment for 10 years permanently and 1300 jointly. With this project we will make a significant contribution to the economy of Armenia. 259 million dollars of export every year and 370 million dollars of investment is expected. I think that will help the Government to achieve all its objectives that is trying to achieve with its programs,” mentioned Howard Stevenson.

During the meeting the guests represented some problems related to the implementation of the program. The Minister promised to discuss and inform the company's management recommendations on their solutions.