Armenia gets $150 mln EurAsEC loan for North-South corridor construction

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Eurasian Economic Community’s (EurAsEC) Anti-Crisis Fund will provide Armenia with an investment loan of $150 million to finance construction of the fourth phase of the North-South transport corridor, ARKA reported citing the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) press release.

The move follows approval of the Eurasian Development Bank, which manages the Anti-Crisis Fund’s resources.

At the same time, the Anti-Crisis Fund’s Council agreed to an EDB proposal to use the World Bank procurement policy for the 4th phase of the project, with procurements to be monitored by World Bank experts.

The construction of the corridor is also being financed by the Asian Development Bank that has provided Armenia with a $500 million loan.

The goal of the project is to upgrade Armenia’s main corridor road (556 km long) as part of a broader thrust to improve connectivity, boost trade, growth and livelihood opportunities in the Caucasus and Central Asia sub-regions. The transport corridor will stretch from the southern Armenian town of Meghri, on the border with Iran, to Bavra in the north on the border with Georgia. The North-South transport corridor will enable Armenia to mitigate the repercussions of the blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial organization established by Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006 to help develop market economies and boost mutual trade ties in member states. The bank’s authorized stock is over $1.5bln. The member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

Anti-crisis Fund was established by the states on June 9, 2009. Its goal is to support the member states in their efforts to recover from the global financial crisis and ensure their financial sustainability and economic progress. EDB is authorized to manage the Fund’s means.