Friday, 12 March 2021
Tigran Avinyan holds videoconference with The Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development Representatives
On March 12, 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan attended a joint review of the portfolio of the The Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) via videoconference. The Deputy Premier delivered greeting remarks: “I am pleased to greet you in the framework of this joint review of EFSD portfolio of Armenia projects. I attach great importance to this event for a number of reasons. First of all, it is an additional opportunity to strengthen partnerships and build groundwork for more coordinated and effective action through practical dialogue. Our country is going through a period of serious economic recession due to COVID-19 and the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in 2020, and these realities have negatively affected the implementation and effectiveness of our programs. Nevertheless, through its prompt response policy, adopted with a view to overcoming the economic crisis, the Government set itself the task of ensuring significant increase in the efficiency of capital investment programs as one of the most important guarantees of economic recovery.
I am confident that the implementation of the portfolio review process with development partners provides additional safeguards for the effective implementation of projects as a manifestation of bilateral commitments. This is also very important in terms of ensuring the country’s fiscal stability and building a potential framework for new public investment initiatives and programs.
The portfolio of Armenia’s active projects with the EFSD is about USD 200 million, while the average efficiency of allocations is about 68%. While the partner portfolio is not so large as seen from the perspective of financing levels and the number of projects, the EFSD is one of the most important partners of Armenia, and I think that there will be opportunities for the furtherance of our partnership.
Let me not go into further detail so that we could spend more time discussing the projects. The agenda is that in the first phase we will discuss 4 projects already underway: 3 loan projects and 1 grant project. At the next stage, we will discuss 3 grant programs.”
The meeting first reviewed the ongoing projects: North-South Highway; Irrigation System Modernization Program; Mastara Reservoir Construction; Improved Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Primary Health Care System.
The participants next discussed the planned grant projects, such as mechanisms to increase energy savings in public buildings and promote the development of green energy; establishment of an electronic labor exchange; improved responsiveness to COVID-19 and capacity building against the threats posed by the coronavirus.
In conclusion, an agreement was reached to continue work on the implementation of effective program management through a joint protocol and action plan. Mutual interest was expressed in taking measures to develop a cooperation strategy between the EFSD and the partner country. The project portfolio will be evaluated on a regular basis in an effort to enhance the project management efficiency and deal with the emerging challenges as quickly as possible.
