ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES OFID AGREEMENT WORTH $14MLN

ARKA
March 19, 2009

YEREVAN, March 19. /ARKA/. Armenia’s National Assembly ratified
Thursday a mutually beneficial agreement with the OPEC Fund for
International Development (OFID).

Under the agreement, OFID is to allocate $14mln for Marketing
Opportunities for Farmers program.

The loan funds will help boost Armenia’s agricultural enterprises,
said RA Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Avetisyan.

The loan’s annual interest rate is 3.2%. As a co-financing, Armenia
will earmark $3mln for agricultural development, the deputy minister
added.

The loan funds will help Armenia boost social infrastructures in
villages ($13.5mln) and cover organizational expenditures of the
program ($500,000).

Armenia and OFID signed the mutually beneficial agreement in Vienna
on December 23, 1008.