EBRD to provide EUR 46mln for establishment of Yerevan Customs and  Logistic Center 

ArmInfo. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide Armenia with 45 million euros, 39 million of which in the form of a loan under the  loan and grant agreement Yerevan Customs and Logistics Center. The  proposals to sign the relevant agreements were approved by the  Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Armenia on September 4 at a  regular meeting.

As stated in the explanatory note to the documents, within the  framework of the agreements, out of the allocated 45 million euros,  39 million will be received in the form of a loan in two tranches (30  million and 9 million euros). Another 875 thousand euros will be  provided for technical assistance (mobilization) of the program as a  grant.

Co-financing by the Republic of Armenia will amount to 9 million  euros, of which 7.8 million euros will be provided through loan funds  (within tranche - 6 million euros and tranche 2 - 1.8 million euros),  another 1.2 million euros will be allocated through grant funds.

Within the framework of the program, it is planned to build an  administrative building of the State Revenue Committee on 5.6  hectares (at the expense of the state treasury) and the Center for  Foreign Economic Activity (FEA) - on 13.5 hectares.

It is noted that the creation of the Yerevan Customs and Logistics  Center will allow FEA participants to provide high-quality services  and ensure the necessary efficiency of customs control.

It is also planned to build in the Yerevan FEA Center: - a warehouse  (with a solar power station on the roof), an inspection and unloading  building with an area of about 7,000 sq. m, - a service hall and an  administrative part of the FTA center: 2 underground (shelter) and 2  above-ground floors with an area of about 2,800 sq. m, - a parking  lot for trucks for 408 cars, - a daytime fire extinguishing tank and  a pumping station for the entire center with an area of about 1,200  sq. m, - a two-story laboratory with a total area of 1,000 sq. m, - a  site for installing dosimetric devices, a building for the orderly  and collective inspection of cargo with an area of 2,100 square  meters, - a parking lot for vehicles with limited entry into the  center's territory for 28 cars.

On the administrative territory, it is planned to build a main  building with an area of 20,000 square meters, a canteen for staff  with an area of 600 square meters, a warehouse, a boiler room, a  transformer substation with an area of 2,000 square meters, a parking  lot for citizens with an area of 3,000 square meters, a parking lot  for employees with an area of 4,000 square meters, roads and other  auxiliary buildings on the administrative territory.

In terms of trade turnover, 80,354 (maximum 714 per day) and 70,901  (maximum 573 per day) transit declarations of TT IM type  (transportation from the customs authority of entry to the inland  customs authority) were processed from the state border checkpoints  to the temporary storage warehouses (terminals) of the customs  service located in Yerevan in 2023 and 2024, respectively. At the  same time, the Yerevan Customs Service Management Center carried out  control, servicing and customs clearance of goods transported from  the state border checkpoints to the temporary storage warehouses  located in Yerevan by about 71,715 trucks in 2023 and about 70,017  trucks in 2024.

The net weight of goods declared under the import procedure in  Yerevan amounted to 1,463.5 thousand tons in 2023 and 1,602.7  thousand tons in 2024.

The Yerevan Customs and Logistics Center will be located at the  following address: Gevorg Chaush Highway #5, Proshyan village, Nairi  community, Kotayk region, RA

The terms of the draft loan agreement are as follows: loan amount:  EUR 39 million; a grant of EUR 6 million will be provided for the  implementation of the project from the EU Neighborhood Investment  Platform (NIIP) funds; loan interest rate type: floating; annual loan  interest rate: 6-month Euribor + 1% margin; frequency of loan  servicing payments: semi-annually; a one-off fee of 1% of the loan  amount, payable separately for each tranche on the effective date or  date of availability of the loan or within 7 days thereafter;  commitment fee: 0.5% per annum, calculated on the unused amount of  the loan, starting 60 days after the signing of the agreement for  Tranche 1 and 60 days after the availability of the loan for Tranche  2.  Principal amount of the loan The loan amount will be repaid in 22  equal semi-annual payments, separately for each tranche. Loan term:  the term of Tranche 1 is 15 years from the date of signing the loan  agreement, of which the grace period is 4 years; the term of Tranche  2 is 15 years from the date of receipt of the tranche, of which the  grace period is 4 years. The interest rate on the full and  outstanding amount of the loan or part thereof may be changed from  floating to fixed in accordance with EBRD procedures (minimum EUR 5  million). The loan term is 5 years from the date of signing the  Agreement or at any later date specified and communicated by the  EBRD.

In general, the loan funds provided for by the Agreements will be  used to implement the construction works of the Foreign Economic  Activity Center "Yerevan", purchase goods and services, as well as  provide consulting services for the implementation of the Project,  and the grant funds - for the construction of the Foreign Economic  Activity Center "Yerevan" and the purchase of equipment.

We remind you that on May 14, an agreement was signed in Yerevan on  the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to  provide Armenia with a grant of 2 million euros and a loan of 10  million euros for the construction of the Foreign Economic Activity  (FEA) Center - a logistics and customs terminal in the city of Sisian  in the Syunik region. Then, in a conversation with ArmInfo, the  former head of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia  Rustam Badasyan said that at this stage it is planned to build two  Foreign Economic Activity Centers in Syunik (in 2022, 373 thousand  tons of cargo were declared in the Southern Customs Administration,  and in 2023 - 569 thousand tons) and in Yerevan. A competition has  already been announced for the construction project of the latter,  which will be located in the village of Proshyan. It is possible  that, in addition to state financing, loan funds from the EBRD and  the EU will also be attracted for the implementation of this project,  he noted. As Giorgi Akhalkatsi, Head of the EBRD in Armenia, stated  at the beginning of 2025, the European Bank for Reconstruction and  Development invested 396 million euros in the Armenian economy  through 19 projects in 2024, which is the highest level of investment  in the history of the Bank. "The total number of the Bank's projects  in Armenia reached 224, with the total investment amounting to 2.6  billion euros, and private sector investments amounting to 84  percent," he noted.