Friday, November 4 2011 22:26
In spring 2012 EBRD Board to approve strategy of cooperation with Armenia for 2012-2015
ArmInfo. In spring 2012 the EBRD Board will consider and approve the strategy of cooperation with Armenia for 2012-2015, Jan Fischer, EBRD Vice President, said at today's press conference in Yerevan. To note, Jan Fischer and his delegation have come to Armenia to hold meetings and discussions on the three-year strategy of cooperation with Armenia.
For his part, Paul-Henri Forestier, the EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus, pointed out that given the experience of cooperation with Armenia, the annual volumes of funding by the EBRD may amount to 50-100 mln EUR within the next three years, depending on Armenia's demand and attractiveness of the business environment for the investors. According to him, the EBRD attaches much significance to provision of AMD loans to Armenia. At the moment the EBRD is taking measures, which will further make these resources more affordable for the banks and micro-finance organizations, he said.
Jan Fischer noted that within the framework of the new strategy, the EBRD will continue working in Armenia focusing on development of small and medium business. In addition, the EBRD is considering possible activation of lending to agriculture, food and processing industries, as well as to energy saving projects in Armenia.
He said that the bank has established certain dialogue with representatives of the municipal sector in Armenia and will promote the given sector jointly with the Government of Armenia. The bank is also expected to implement city transport, water supply, and garbage collection and processing finance projects, he said. During the meeting with the Armenian authorities, it became clear that EBRD may be involved also into tourism financing projects, Jan Fischer said.
At the same time, Jan Fischer said that during the visit to Armenia, the EBRD delegation met with President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Head of the Armenian Central Bank Arthur Javadyan, representatives of business, public and political opposition, as well as other international financial structures working in Armenia. Fischer said that issues of cooperation and combined efforts for synergy were discussed with representatives of international financial organizations in Armenia to avoid program duplicating and to fine new sphere of investing.
Since 1992 EBRD has funded nearly 100 projects in the amount of 600 million EUR in Armenia. EBRD cooperates with 12 local banks, particularly, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Anelik Bank, VTB Bank (Armenia), INECOBANK, ArmSwissbank, HSBC Bank Armenia, Converse Bank, Ameriabank, Armeconombank, ARARATBANK, ProCredit Bank and Byblos Bank Armenia.
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