Armenia Sets Training Framework for Jewelers

RAPAPORT... Armenia's Education & Science Minister, Armen Ashotyan,  and the chairman of the Armenian Jewelers Association, Gagik Gevorgyan, signed a cooperative agreement for training  professional jewelers in the country. The agreement defines the legal ground work and outlines key directions for the program, which would also help provide young jewelers with jobs in the industry.

Gevorgyan said that the goal is also to create a free economic area for the jewelry industry. "We want Armenia to become one of the best world centers of jewelry business, and this ambition can come true if a free economic zone is created and investors are attracted and therefore we need highly qualified jewelers," he told ARKA news.  "Unfortunately, our specialists don't meet international standards."

Jewelry output jumped 24 percent year on year to $19 million (AMD 7.8 billion) for the first five months of 2013.