Armenian leather and footwear industries face oblivion
According to local reports, around 18 Armenian shoe factories employing some 35.000 workers are operating under the threat of closure.
The factories, which once supplied shoes for a quarter of the former Soviet Union’s population, have recently been privatised. However, the switch from public to private ownership is widely thought to have been thoughtlessly carried out, with the result tha the sector looks likely to disappear in its entirety.