OPINION: ARMENIA’S ECONOMIC POLICY ATTRACTS BIG WORLD PLAYERS TO COUNTRY FOR RECENT SIX YEARS

ARKA
April 2, 2008

YEREVAN, April 2. /ARKA/. Gagik Minasyan, Republican MP and chairman of
Armenian National Assembly’s standing financial committee, commenting
Wednesday on appearance of foreign companies at Armenian banking
market, said Armenia’s economic policy has attracted big world players
to the country for recent six years.

22 banks and 347 branches function in Armenia now. HSBC, European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development< International Financial
Corporation, Russian VTB Group, French ACBA-Credit Agricole, Kazakh
BTA Bank, American Cascade Holding and Iranian Mellat Bank have
entered Armenian market for the last decade.

Troyka Dialogue with its TDA Holding Limited, Lebanese BIBLOS BANK,
Russian Gasprombank, ProCredit Holding AG and KfW came to Armenia in
2007 alone.

Swedish OMX has bough 100% of Armenian Stock Exchange’s and Armenian
Central Depository’s shares.

Minasyan views their appearance in Armenia as convincing evidence of
their confidence in this country.

He stressed the importance of OMX activities and said every effort
will be made to create political stability and favorable environment
for investing in the country.