Another free economic zone will open in Armenia’s second-largest town of Gyumri, according to a government’s decision approved by Cabinet today.
Economy Minister Tigran Khachatryan said the free economic zone will be built by the Eurasian Logistic Park LLC. He said the FEZ is expected to help attract foreign direct investment, increase the investment attractiveness of the region, create new jobs and stimulate sustainable development.
The free economic zone will be located near the local Shirak airport. The government expects it to become an important platform for electronic commerce, logistics services and technologies, according to Khachatryan.
He said the construction of the FEZ on 319 hectares is to take 10-12 years. A memorandum has already been signed with the Gyumri City Hall on the allocation of a land plot. Khachatryan said the free economic zone is to create some 13 thousand jobs.
“In fact, international e-commerce sites will be able to use warehouses in Gyumri to store their goods and, when selling goods to Russia, reduce delivery times from 3 days to 2-3 hours, given the proximity of the airport,” Khachatryan said.
Gyumri is the second largest city in Armenia and the administrative centre of Shirak Province, which borders Georgia on north and Turkey on west. The city’s population grew above 200,000 prior to the 1988 Spitak earthquake, when it was devastated. As of the 2011 census, the city had a population of 121,976, down from 150,917 reported at the 2001 census.
