STATE TRADE OFFICE TO OPEN IN ARMENIA.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

California's trade office in Armenia will open Monday, thanks to the $75,000 raised by local members of the Armenian community to create trade partnerships between the Golden State and the former Soviet republic.

The office will be in temporary quarters in Yerevan, Armenia's capital, in a government building there. An English-speaking Armenian was appointed to run the office, which will link importers and exporters between California and the landlocked nation east of Turkey and north of Iran.

Because the money was raised privately, the state was able to open the office in Armenia even though California's other foreign trade offices were closed recently because of state budget woes. That could be a model for the state if it opens other foreign trade offices, officials said.

``The Armenian officials that I met with are very excited about it because they recognize that one of the ways as a developing country they're going to progress is to count on the expertise and the products that would come from a place like California,'' said Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, who was in Armenia from Sept. 19-23.

Officials expect that the office will facilitate in the export of information technology and health products going into Armenia and help Armenian businesses export foodstuffs and other products to California.

There is nearly $50 million in trade between Armenia and the United States, most of it with California, said Berdj Karapetian, chairman of the Glendale-based Foundation for Economic Development, which helped create the trade office.

``There are quite a few individual business owners, midsize business owners - not the multimillion dollar ones or the small mom-and-pop entities - midsize businesses that are looking for business opportunities in Armenia that are developing, but they're not sure the exact ways to go about it,'' said Karapetian, who works in marketing.

The office will facilitate that work that they need, he said.

No public money has gone into creating the trade office, and there could be a need for additional fundraising in the future to keep the office operating.

``I'd like to see it grow,'' said Annette Vartanian, executive director of the Glendale-based Armenian American Chamber of Commerce. ``Obviously, it's going to start out small, but I'd like to see in the next couple of years for the office to expand and to see a team of people working.''

The office is overseen by the California Business, Transportation & Housing Agency.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com