TWO-DAY ARMENIAN-GERMAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONSULTATION ON FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION STARTS IN YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan
Mar 21 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. A two-day Armenian-German
intergovernmental consultation on financial and technical cooperation
started in Yerevan on March 21. The consultation is chaired by
the RA Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatrian and the
represenative of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and
Development Rolf Baldus. According to a press release submitted to NT
by the press service of the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, the
German Ambassador to Armenia Ms Heike Renate Peitsch, representatives
of various Armenian ministries and the KfW Bank Yerevan Office are
participating in the consultation. The consultation participants
are discussing financial and technical programs, which are being
implemented by the German government in such sectors of Armenia
as energy, health, environmental protection, infrastructures and
the mortgage market development. The cooperation programs between
Armenia and Germany were launched in 1993 – at first as technical
assistance programs, later – in 1995, also as financial assistance
programs. Since 2001 – after intergovernmental negotiations, regional
programs have also been implemented within the framework of the
Caucasian Initiative. The Armenian-German finnacial cooperation is
focused on the three main sectors: energy, financial/private sector,
and water supply and water sewerage. Some relatively small-scale
grant programs are also being carried out in the spheres of health
care and environmental protection. In addition to bilateral programs,
new regional programs “The Caucasian Initiative” were launched. They
include financial and technical cooperation programs in the three South
Caucasian countries in such spheres as energy and private business
sectors, fight against tuberculosis, and biodiversity protection. It
is already envisaged to implement programs aimed at developing the
mortgage market through the Armenian-German cooperation. So far, about
185 mln euros has been allocated to Armenia within the framework of
the Armenian-German financial cooperation.