Friday, 14 October 2005
Today RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan has received members of EBRD Board of Directors Terence Brown, Michael Neumayr, Gonzalo Ramos, Jose Veiga de Macedo, Scott Clark, Igor Podoliev, Peer Stanchina, Regional Director Michael Davy and Director of EBRD Yerevan Office Michael Winstin. On a first representative visit to Armenia, the delegation seeks to collect as much as possible information about the country, get a first-hand view of the ongoing EBRD programs and discuss future programs of cooperation with local stakeholders. To this end, the members of the Board of Directors have had several meetings with the representatives of the banking sector, business community, diplomatic circles, NGOs, ministries concerned.
To begin with, they complimented the Prime Minister for the impressive economic achievements made through consistent efforts on the part of the Government and informed that the EBRD was going to increase the number of programs and enlarge the scope of cooperation with Armenia. By stating that the improvement of overall investment environment ought to be a priority for any country, the delegation discussed with the Prime Minister the measures realized so far and the action to take in future.
Mr. Margaryan said to be highly appreciative of EBRD activities in Armenia and mentioned that they had been taken to a new qualitative level in recent years. According to the head of government, the amount of work carried out in collaboration with the private sector, the programs implemented by the Bank in banking, energy, insurance and other sectors had influenced directly the pace of economic development. He prioritized the continuation of cooperation in the above areas and, with a view to developing the private sector, suggested considering the possibility of including in the future programs low interest-rate-bearing, long-term lending facilities. Then the Prime Minister answered the questions asked by the delegation concerning the privatization processes, export-conducive measures, the progress in PRSP and anti-corruption strategy implementation, the reforms in the fiscal and customs spheres, the improvement of economic legislation.
