YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS. A decision was made to establish Viticulture and winemaking foundation in Armenia during the Armenian Government’s session. Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Sergo Karapetyan said the Government will allocate 103 million 500 thousand AMD from the reserve fund for the establishment of the foundation.

“This decision was made based on the necessity to strengthen the achievements in the fields of viticulture and winemaking and to ensure the further development process”, “Armenpress” reports, the Minister said.

He said as a result of various huge works conducted in the fields of viticulture and grape alcohol production, significant developments were achieved in the restoration of grape production and winemaking. However, the analysis of the existing issues showed that there is a necessity to take steps aimed at improving the current situation and strengthen the opportunities for the development of these fields.

He said one of the reasons of such issues is that both the executive leadership and the unions of this field have not yet found the ways to improve the production quality, to expand the product types, to form a unified Armenian brand and to increase its popularity. However, these are the major driving factors that contribute to the sales growth, as well as the development of that field.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan said there are great expectations from this Foundation, works need to be done in order to increase the export of the field products. “Similar foundation established in Georgia has achieved significant progress. Within 5 months it has exported nearly 25 million bottles of wine. We create this foundation based on these expectations”, the Prime Minister said.