ArmInfo.Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan received a delegation led by Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Shixin Chen. Director of the ADB Armenian Representation Shane Rosenthal also attended the meeting.
According to the vice-premier's office, during the meeting, Grigoryan noted that cooperation with ADB is not limited to the financial component. Armenia, he said, attaches greater importance to the culture that the ADB brings to Armenia.
As a promising area of cooperation, Mher Grigoryan highlighted the infrastructure, human capital development, and public-private partnership. Deputy Prime Minister stressed the need to develop strategies to expand cooperation.
The Vice-President of ADB, in turn, presented to the Armenian Deputy Prime Minister the basic principles of cooperation "Armenia-ADB. Country Partnership Strategy" for 2019-2023, noting that the document is planned to be approved in September 2019. He expressed satisfaction with the level of contacts between the RA and the ADB and expressed hope for the development of relations over the next 5 years. Shixin Chen confirmed ADB's readiness to support the development of Armenia.
There was also an exchange of views on the problems and planned reforms in the fields of education and agriculture. The parties noted the importance of joint efforts to build the North-South transport corridor, as well as the involvement of Armenia in regional programs on the basis of its implementation.
Armenia joined ADB in 2005 and is in the group of countries with mixed (concessional and conventional) financing. ADB is addressing poverty reduction in the Asia-Pacific region through stimulating economic growth and regional integration. In the field of transport, ADB continues to assist Armenia in the construction of the North-South transport corridor, as well as in strengthening transport links between cities with high levels of poverty. According to statistics on the bank's website, at the end of 2017, ABR implemented 52 projects in Armenia totaling $ 1.32 billion, of which $ 635 million were directed to the development of transport infrastructure, $ 172 million to city infrastructure and water supply, $ 152 million to finance, $ 142 million - in the energy sector, $ 140 million in the sphere of administrative management.