US PLANS TO HELP ARMENIA OVERCOME POVERTY IN AGRARIAN SECTOR
by Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 12, 2006 Wednesday 03:45 PM EST

U.S. delegation arrived in Yerevan on Wednesday to present a grant
provided by the U.S. administration to Armenia under the Millennium
Challenges programme.

The 235 million U.S. dollar grant will be used to fight poverty in
Armenia’s agrarian sector.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan received the delegation to thank
the U.S. government for its financial assistance. He believes that
the programme “is very important, because it may help to bridge the
gap in living standards between the capital and rural areas.”

The Chairman of the Appropriation Subcommittee for Foreign Assistance
at the U.S. House of Representatives, Jim Kolbe, said at a news
conference that the South Caucasus is the region that has a bright
future and may develop successfully if there is peace between its
countries.

He said the U.S. would not have started the programme, had it been
not confident of Armenia’s committment to free and fair parliamentary
elections next year and presidential elections in 2008, Kolbe said.

The U.S. will closely watch the implmentation of the programme and
reforms in Armenia, Millennium Challenges Executive Director John
Danilovich said.