International donors provided nearly $100 mln to Armenia for agricultural programs

ArmInfo. International donors have provided nearly $100 mln to Armenia for agricultural programs being implemented at the moment, Deputy Minister Armen Harutyunyan stated at the press conference on December 2 answering to ArmInfo's question.

According to him all the programs being implemented in the agricultural field by international and public organizations are in line with Armenia's Strategy of Sustainable Development of Agriculture for 2010- 2020. In the future, the Deputy Minister explained that the emphasize will be put on more productive programs implemented based on high technologies. "As the former Prime Minister of Israel was saying, in agriculture 95% are technologies and only 5%-work. In Armenia we still have much work to do to this end", he stated.

The Deputy Minister stated that UN, USAID assist development of agriculture in Armenia, while the EU has become the largest donor of agricultural sector in Armenia. Thus, only in 2015-2016 programs amounting to 35 mln EUR were approved, which are being implemented by the EU Delegation to Armenia within the Eastern Partnership program. Programs with the French Development Agency, Austrian Development Agency have also been implemented. The Armenian government also cooperates with Swiss Agency for Development in implementation of agricultural programs.