YEREVAN, April 11, /ARKA/. President Serzh Sargsyan met today with Xiaoyu Zhao, the Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank and thanked the bank for its assistance to Armenia to mitigate the fallout from recent global economic and financial crisis, Sargsyan’s press office reported.

President Sargsyan was said to have assessed highly a set of projects underway now in Armenia which are funded by the bank. Stressing that Armenia’s cooperation with the Asian Development Bank is aimed at ensuring a stable economic growth and infrastructure development, Sargsyan singled out the bank’s involvement in the implementation of North-South transport corridor project and in another project designed for sustainable development of urban communities.

The two men were said to have also discussed the bank’s possible involvement in helping prepare a project for construction of a railway from Armenia to Iran and also creation of infrastructure to export Armenian agricultural goods.

Armenia joined the Asian Development Bank in 2005 September. The Asian Development Bank is financing a total of $83 million worth water supply and rural road construction projects in Armenia. -0-