ArmInfo. The European Union will provide Armenia with a grant of 24.7 million euros to facilitate the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
According to Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, of the amount of 18.7 million euros will be used to attract highly qualified specialists who will assist Armenia in the implementation of CEPA provisions. Another 2 million euros will be allocated for the formation of the functional capabilities of Armenia under the Eastern Partnership program, and 4 million euros for the modernization of the metrology laboratory, which will assess the quality of Armenian products when exported to the markets of the European Union. In total, as the Deputy Prime Minister noted, the EU will provide Armenia with 65 million euros, which is three times the amount of financing in 2017 and 2018.
The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU (CEPA) was signed in Brussels on November 24, 2017, and ratified by the RA National Assembly on April 11, 2018. It should be noted that Armenia became the first member state of the EAEU to sign a similar Agreement with the European Union. As of the current situation, 24 out of 28 EU countries have ratified the document. Earlier, ArmInfo reported that in the coming years the EU and the World Bank (WB) will provide about 13 billion euros for a number of large-scale infrastructure projects in six countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus).
The EU announced the start of the program on January 15, 2019. According to a published EU document, more than 700 million euros will be provided within the framework of this program. Most of the priority programs of Armenia, according to the authors of the document, relate to the North-South transport corridor. In particular, according to the document, 450 million euros will be allocated for the construction of the Artashat-Agarak section of the North-South highway. 41 million euros will be allocated for the reconstruction of the Gyumri-Bavra section, another 7.5 million euros will be allocated for the repair of the Yerevan-Vanadzor highway. In addition, the EU and the WB plan to allocate about 15 million euros for the modernization of the Meghri border checkpoint. The authors of the project plan to allocate about 6 million euros for the construction of the Friendship Bridge in Sadakhlo, connecting Georgia and Armenia.
