ARMENIA EXPECTS 2006 FOREIGN INVESTMENT AT SAME LEVEL AS IN 2005

Interfax, Russia
April 6 2006

MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) -Armenia expects that foreign investment
in its economy in 2006 will remain at $504.5 million, the level of
the previous year, Deputy Trade and Economic Development Minister
Tigran Davtian said at a press conference on Thursday.

A total of $1.996 billion in foreign investment has been invested in
the Armenian economy in the fourteen years since its independence,
including $1.46 billion of direct foreign investment, he said.

The peak year was 2005, when total foreign investment exceeded $500
million for the first time, Davtian said.

Investment in the real sector of the economy rose 31% to $400.4
million, he said.

The telecommunication sector saw $132.1 million in investment and
$97.5 million was invested in the mining sector largely because of the
privatization of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Plant. There was $53.3
million invested in metallurgy, mainly in the Armenal packaging plant.

The European Union accounts for half of all foreign investment in the
Armenian economy, Russia for about 20%, then from the United States
and other countries, Davtian said.