The FINANCIAL — EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti has concluded a successful visit to Armenia today that confirmed the Bank’s commitment to continue to engage in the country by supporting, primarily, the development of the private sector.
During his stay in the capital, Yerevan, President Chakrabarti met the highest officials of the Armenia government, led by President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. He also held meetings with Vice Prime Minister and Minister of International Economic Integration and Reforms, Vache Gabrielyan, the Minister of Finance, Vardan Aramyan and the Minister of Justice, Davit Harutyunyan.
The programme with the business community included meetings with Karen Harutyunyan, General Manager of Electric Networks of Armenia, the entrepreneur Vardanush Petrosyan, whose company participates in the EBRD Women in Business programme, and the signing of two credit lines with the CEO of Araratbank, Mr Ashot Osipyan. The bank is one of the leading financial institutions in Armenia and a longstanding EBRD partner. The two new credit lines will be provided in local currency and support local and women-led businesses, according to EBRD.
President Chakrabarti summarised: “This is already my third official visit to Armenia since my appointment as President of the EBRD and this alone underlines the great importance and significant attention we pay to Armenia and the wider region. Over the years we have seen substantial change in the country and we are encouraged to see some reforms in progress. This progress makes it even more important to build on these achievements and the EBRD stands ready to support the process, in line with the country’s and our own strategic priorities of private sector support, capital market development and public sector reform.”
Since the start of its operations in Armenia in 1992, the EBRD has invested over €1.11 billion in 153 projects in the country’s financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 88 per cent of these investments being in the private sector.
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