YEREVAN, November 20. /ARKA/. Third generation Armenian composite banknotes dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the national currency, the dram, will be put into circulation on November 22, secretary general of the Central Bank David Nahapetyan said today.

He said the new banknotes with advanced anti-counterfeiting features are hybrid, made from paper and polymers. Nahapetyan said also the new banknotes will be put into circulation in stages, since the Central Bank has to check their quality.

He said banknotes with face value of 10 thousand, 20 thousand and 50 thousand drams will appear in circulation on November 22, while banknotes with face value of 1000 drams, 2000 drams and 5,000 drams will be put into circulation starting from December 25.

The new generation banknotes will be in circulation simultaneously with older banknotes, so the population should not worry, Nahapetyan said.

He added that the Central Bank did not issue new banknotes with face value of 100,000 drams, since according to estimates, this banknote is not in demand.

"According to our research, major transactions in Armenia are non-cash transactions and our policy is aimed precisely at encouraging such transactions," he said.

Nahapetyan warned that at the initial stage, new banknotes will not be accepted by payment terminals, since this requires technical and software changes.

Great Armenia poet Paruyr Sevak will be depicted on banknotes with face value of 1,000 drams, world chess champion Tigran Petrosyan will be depicted on banknotes with face value of 2,000 drams, American Armenian writer William Saroyan on banknotes with face value of 5,000 drams, great Armenian composer Komitas on banknotes with face value of 10,000 drams, great Armenian painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky on banknotes with face value of 20,000 drams and Saint Gregory the Illuminator, the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church, on banknotes with face value of 50,000 drams.

The tender announced for printing the new banknotes was won by German company Giesecke & Devrient.-0-