ArmInfo. On November 22, in Armenia, on the day of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the national currency, the third generation composite banknotes with face values of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 drams will be put into circulation. On November 20, the Chief Secretary of the Central Bank of Armenia David Nahapetyan told reporters during the event, noting that the notes with face values of 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 drams will be put into circulation later - from December 25. Moreover, the banknote with the nominal value of 2 000 AMD is being put into circulation for the first time.
The 1,000 AMD banknote depicts the Armenian poet Paruyr Sevak (instead of the ones with the image of the poet Yeghishe Charents ), 5,000 drams depict American writer of Armenian origin William Saroyan (instead of Hovhannes Tumanyan), 10,000 drams- the great composer Komitas (instead of Avetik Isahakyan ), 20 000 drams - well-known marine painter Hovhannes (Ivan) Aivazovsky (instead of Martiros Saryan) and 50 000 drams- Founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church St. Gregory the Illuminator. The ninth world chess champion Tigran Petrosyan will be depicted on the 2,000 dram banknote. The 100,000 AMD note is not included in list of the 3rd generation and will be put out of circulation (upon wear) due to the lack of demand. The existing paper analogs of the 3rd generation banknotes will gradually go out of circulation as they wear out.
He recalled that for the release of third-generation banknotes, the Central Bank announced an international competition, the winner of which was the German company Giesecke & Devrient. "We put forward tough requirements for bidders. In particular, the obligatory condition imposed on the mint is to be a manufacturer of euro-bills and to technically be able to meet all our requirements regarding the degrees of banknote protection," he explained. According to him, composite banknotes are hybrid and consist of cotton paper, covered on both sides with polyester, which provides additional protection.
D. Nahapetyan warned that at the initial stage it would be impossible to use third-generation banknotes when performing operations through terminals, since for this it is necessary to technically retool software. "We simply didn't want to unnecessarily load the business, demanding in a short time - by November 22, to provide the necessary technical re-equipment of terminals for recognizing new generation banknotes, given that the overwhelming majority of banknotes are second-generation banknotes. But this issue will soon be resolved." he stressed.
In conclusion, D. Nahapetyan informed that the collection composite banknote of 500 drams, presented by the Central Bank in 2017 to the 24th anniversary of the dram, gained international success, and was recognized as the best in the region. "We hope that the new generation of banknotes will receive a high international rating," he concluded.