WORLD BANK TO PROVIDE CREDITS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM
ENTERPRISES IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. During his visit to the U.S, Armenian
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian met with the U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice who said that the negotiations on the Karabakh problem
have a positive course and serious progress can be achieved regarding
this problem after the upcoming presidential election in Azerbaijan.
The prime minister stated at the October 16 press conference that
Armenian-Turkish relations had also been discussed during the meetings
with high-ranking U.S. officials. The Armenian side reasserted its
position, according to which Armenia is ready to resume negotiations
with Turkey without any preconditions.

T. Sargsian said that at the meetings, C. Rice and U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney expressed a high opinion about the process of the reforms
being implemented in Armenia. The components of the Millennium
Challenge Program were discussed in detail, with the work done so far
under this program being assessed positively.

Accoridng to T. Sargsian, he also met with the U.S. Secretary of Trade
and discussed the issue of technical assistance for creating a free
economic zone and the problem of assistance to small and medium
enterprises. The World Bank also expressed a willingness to provide
assistance: it will allocate credits for development of SMEs, which, as
the prime minister underlined, will allow to avoid the negative impact
of financial crises. Speaking about the possible impact of the current
financial crisis on the Armenian economy, the prime minister noted that
according to the world’s best experts, its cause is distrust with
respect to financial institutions and the unsatisfactory level of
liquidity abd capitalization of these institutions. T. Sargsian said
that Armenian commercial banks have no liquidity problem now, while
their capitalization is at a high level, so there is no cause for
concern.

It was announced that the IMF will provide technical assistance to
Armenia’s tax and customs sectors.

T. Sargsian also informed those present that during the meeting with
the Georgian prime minister in Washington, an agreement was reached to
hold a sitting of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission in
Tbilisi on October 27-28 in order to discuss issues related to customs
legislation, transport tariffs, and road construction.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress