YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. The Armenian Parliament on Thursday ratified an agreement on the establishment of local branches of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and KfW Reconstruction Credit Bank. 

"Local branches of these organizations have long been operating in Armenia without having a specific status," Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Rafael Gevorgyan said.

He specified that under the agreement the Armenian government undertakes to guarantee security as well as protection of these offices , to exempt them from customs duties on imported equipment and other state fees, to exempt the organizations and their branches from all kinds of direct taxes, etc.  

"The applications from these organizations to open their offices in Armenia were received 12 years ago, but the process did not move forward for a long time due to inter-agency disagreements. To date, these disagreements have been resolved," the deputy minister said. 

According to him, the involvement of the German government in the projects on the territory of Armenia has been quite high over the past period.

"It is enough to note that Germany is the leading EU member country  in terms of trade turnover with Armenia. At the same time, over the past 30 years, the volume of German investments in the economy of our country amounted to about 2 trillion drams," Gevorgyan informed.

About GIZ and KfW activities

GIZ has been working in Armenia since 1990, assisting the authorities in sustainable economic development, improvement of investment climate, local governance and environment.

The German bank KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) has been operating in Armenia since 1998, implementing financial programs in such areas as  crediting micro, small and medium enterprises, energy, infrastructures and municipal administration. --0--