The Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC) is number one brandy producer in Armenia and number one exporter. This is how France's Ambassador to Armenia Henri Reynaud expressed his attitude towards the YBC's activity and the trust relationship between the French Embassy and the YBC at today's press conference dedicated to the memory of the well-known French industrialist Paul Ricard. He added that the YBC is the key sponsor and a zealous patron of the French Embassy.
To recall, the Yerevan Brandy Company is a member of the Pernod Ricard Group (France), which currently encompasses 96 enterprises (including the YBC) and has 19,000 employees. Paul Ricard was the creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard.
Within the frames of the Days of Francophonie in Armenia, the French Embassy will host on Friday a roundtable in Ricard's honor. At the roundtable, Michelle Ricard, the industrialist's daughter, and Francois-Xavier Diaz, his grandson, will speak of Paul Ricard's personal life and professional activity. The roundtable will be followed by a show of a feature film at Moscow Cinema in Yerevan. The film is produced by Paul Ricard and directed by Jacqueline Audry.
Ambassador Reynaud said that Paul Ricard was unique and that he was not only a well-known large industrialist but also a groundbreaker. He was also interested in architecture, machine building and art. He was a real revolutionary, Henri Reynaud stressed.
For his part, Francois-Xavier Diaz pointed out that the beverages produced by the members of Pernod Ricard Group are different by their gustatory quality, but all of them form a single industrial culture. When comparing the Armenian and French cognacs, he stressed that the French cognac is very popular, particularly, on Asian markets, while the Armenian brandy is popular on the Russian market.
Paul Ricard's daughter, in turn, said that her father was a big humanist. He was considered the most generous and thoughtful employer and took care of rural population as well, she stressed.