THE FAMED ARMENIAN COGNAC TO ACQUIRE FRENCH FLAVOR.

The French company Pernod-Ricard has won the international tender for the privatization of the Yerevan cognac factory, the flagship of this industry in the former USSR. Pernod-Ricard edged out Canada’s Seagram in the tender, according to yesterday’s announcements by Armenia’s Reform Ministry and the French embassy in Yerevan. The French company paid a purchase price of $30 million and committed itself to an investment plan with specific figures and deadlines. The Yerevan cognac plant has a production capacity of 1.5 million decaliters annually, but the actual output is currently down to a mere fifth of that figure. (Russian agencies, May 13)

YEREVAN, BAKU HOLD UNBRIDGEABLE POSITIONS AHEAD OF OSCE TALKS.