YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. A food pecticide checking laboratory opened at the Republican Veterinary Diagnostic Center on November 25 with the financing of Hellinic Aid Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. The Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and the Minister of Agriculture Aramais Grigorian attended the opening ceremony. The laboratory was created on the initiative of the ARF's Armenian National Committee of Greece. The Greek government has allocated 230 thousand euros for the laboratory equipped with modern equipment. The prime minister stated that thanks to the laboratory, the ministry of agriculture will be able to tell the public which fruit and vegetables grown in Armenia do not contain harmful substances. So far the country did not have such a well-equipped laboratory which would allow to determine the future effect of chemical substances used in fruit growing on users. T. Sargsyan underlined the importance of this initiative as in 2009 it is envisaged increasing the share of agriculture both in Armenian GDP and consumer goods. Professor of Agricultural University of Athens Sergo Harutyunian said that both domestically produced foodstuffs and agricultural products and imported ones will be checked at the laboratory. "The shares of about 100 chemical weed and pest killers that foodstuffs may contain will be checked at this lab. If their content exceeds the established amount, the given foodstuff or agricultural product will be banned from being sold in market," S. Harutyunian said. In his words, after being examined at the laboratory, foodstuffs to be exported from Armenia will receive a certificate of correspondence to European standards. S. Harutyunian announced that the program will be of continuous character, and with the financing of the Greek government a laboratory for examination of various drinks will open in Yerevan, and an animal food manufacturing plant will operate in 2009.

---