Tuesday, 27 January 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation led by World Bank Regional Vice- President Shigeo Katzu. The delegation comprised South Caucasian Department’s Europe and Central Asia Director Asad Alam, World Bank Regional Director Donna Dowsett-Coirolo, World Bank Armenia Office Director Aristomene Varudakis and WBAO officers.
There have been discussed: a World Bank-Government of Armenia cooperation-related agenda, the Bank’s eventual support in overcoming the consequences of the ongoing global financial and economic crisis, Armenia’s cooperation with other key financial institutions, as well as other issues of topical interest.
The Prime Minister expressed hope that the positive record of World Bank-GoA cooperation and the arrangements reached during last year’s Washington meetings with the leadership of the Bank will live up to our people’s expectations in terms of continued successful interaction. Armenia was said to have repeatedly been cited as an example of successful reform by virtue of its performance indicators. Unlike many other countries, Armenia was able to meet the first tide of the global crisis without much efforts and resources.
Indicating the clearness of Armenia’s anti-crisis program strategy, the head of RA government said a special focus will be placed on infrastructures inclusive of irrigation, power engineering, road building, as well as on increased SME funding and some reform areas. The present situation was said to call for prompt preventive action, supposed to spare our country a second tide of threats. Tigran Sargsyan advised that Armenia is negotiating successfully with other financial institutions as well – the Asian Development Bank, the EBRD, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank – in the hope to get surplus funds for SME funding to complement the amounts due from the World Bank considering that the World Bank-supported programs have far broader coverage. This will help make a more balanced use of cross-sector resources.
