ELECTION OF BSBTD PRESIDENT POSTPONED UNTIL LATE JUNE (ARMENIA)

YEREVAN, June 6. /ARKA/. The election of the President of the Black
Sea Bank for Trade and Development (BSBTD) has been postponed until
the end of June, RA Minister of Finance and Economy, Chairman of the
BSBTD Board of Directors Vardan Khachatryan told reporters,
rpresenting the results of the 7th meeting of the BSBTD Directors
held in Yerevan. He accounted for this by the fact that it is for the
first time that, besides Turkey, Russia has nominated itself for the
BSBTD President. “Geopolitical discussions have got under way, and the
election has been postponed until June 29-30, for additional
consultations to he held, as the voters have been halved,” Khachatryan
said. He also reported that a decision has been made on holding the
next meeting in Azerbaijan, and in 2007 Moldova will host the guests.
The Minister pointed out that the Yerevan meeting agenda included over
a dozen issues, with agreements reached on all of them. Among the
issues are the BSBTD 2005 budget and a 2004 report. “In 2004, the
bank’s activities were rather efficient: in 2003 the bank’s losses
totaled 2-3mln USD, whereas last year only 400,000 USD. In the first
quarter of 2005, 300,000 USD profit was recorded,” Khachatryan
said. He also reported that an agreement have been reached on the
signing a memorandum on cooperation between the BSBTD and EU. The 7th
meeting of the BSBTD Director was held in Yerevan on June 5. No
reporters were invited to cover the meeting. P.T. -0–