Tuesday, November 20 2018 18:31

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.