Yerevan /Mediamax/. Heavy Basket Agricultural Consumer Cooperative has officially opened in Gndevaz community of Vayots Dzor marz with financial support from Lydian Armenia. The company carries out social programs in the village.

The cooperative includes members from the nearby communities of Jermuk, Gorayk and Saravan. The Heavy Basket summed up the year 2017 with progress and key steps towards establishment: registration of cooperative, product presentation during Christmas Bazaar, and the official opening ceremony.

Heavy Basket presents ecologically clean products of Vayots Dzor region to the Armenian market, and steps have already been taken to reach out to new business partners abroad. The new cooperative will start exporting around 10 types of ecologically clean, high-quality and tasty food items: dried fruits, nuts and seeds as well as various alpine herbs and teas in 2018.

During the ceremony, Heavy Basket President Samvel Torosyan has expressed special gratitude to Lydian Armenia, which implements the Amulsar mining project. The cooperative received financial support, technical assistance, and business management skills within the company’s social program.

Partnership and Teaching/ P&T NGO and HDP Foundation have also made a great contribution to the development of the cooperative. The former provided capacity building on cooperatives and organizational issues, and organized an exchange visit to Lukashin, which illustrated the successful experience of local cooperative. HDP Foundation established and fully renovated a collection point in Gndevaz. The foundation will also help acquire Lydian-supported agricultural products and new crops, grown in greenhouses and high-yielding gardens equipped with latest technologies in Gorayq, Saravan and Gndevaz.

“During the opening ceremony, Heavy Basket Cooperative member Armine Ginosyan presented the entire path of this local entity. The cooperative is a promising successful start-up business that can be replicated elsewhere and serve as an example for other entrepreneurs. It is also a successful model of partnership, where each party has a distinct mission and role: Lydian

Armenia funded the project and its various components were implemented by P&T NGO, HDP Foundation, and Zangakatun NGO. The latter’s social program oversaw foundation of the Rays of Future NGO in Jermuk, which teaches schoolchildren, teachers and parents from

Jermuk and Kechut the skills to make accessories from waste and generate income. The official opening ceremony of this NGO took place in September last year,” Lydian Armenia has informed.