Armenia, Netherlands sign memorandum to boost economic cooperation

Arminfo
10 Jun 05

YEREVAN

The Armenian government and the Netherlands signed a memorandum of
understanding on the Programme of Cooperation with Emerging Markets
(PSOM) in Yerevan today. The document was signed by Armenian Finance
and Economy Minister Vardan Khachatryan and Dutch Minister for
Development Cooperation Agnes van Ardenne.

After the signing ceremony, Khachatryan said that under the document
the Armenian government will implement two or three projects every
year. Each project is worth 500,000 euros on average and will be
funded by the Dutch government. This grant programme is being
implemented in 42 countries with a total cost of 48m euros. The main
objective of the programme is to facilitate the development of the
private sector by encouraging equal and mutually beneficial
cooperation between the two countries’ business circles, the minister
said.

Programmes aimed at reducing poverty in Armenia and establishing and
developing small and medium-sized Dutch-Armenian enterprises can be
implemented within the framework of the grant, he said.

[Passage omitted: Details; The volume of trade between Armenia and the
Netherlands reached 25.6m dollars in January-April this year]