ROSBALT, RUSSIA, JUNE 1. Armenians are expressing a special relationship toward Russian business, said International Business Center (IBC) General Director Kachatur Zakaryan in an on-line press conference on May 31. In answer to the Rosbalt question about the reasons for the special relationship toward Russian business from Armenian government, Zakaryan said that it is conditional on the special relations between Russia and Armenia, adding that for 'the Russian market is most advantageous to our business and therefore the government is encouraging Russian business.'

The charter member of IBC is Russian company Rosaviaspetskomplekt, which invested more than $10 million in large building projects and industry in Armenia over the course of the last two years. IBC has over the course of the last year acquired and activated three companies for production of synthetic diamonds and production of diamond instruments: Almast, Aragats and Araks. In the beginning of October 2002, IBC bought property of company Karkhatmeken. IBC plans over the course of the next three years to invest approximately $500 thousand in the reconstruction and modernization of production of machine tools. In 2002 IBC shipped products to Russia worth $2 million.