Armenia’s government has approved today a proposal to sign a 10 million euro grant agreement with the French Development Agency.
Economy minister Tigran Khachatryan said 8.5 million euros will be allocated to the Ministry of Economy and the remaining 1.5 million euros to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures for the implementation of a program designed to develop irrigated agriculture in the provinces of Ararat and Armavir.
He said the goal of the program is to build a modern irrigation system through technical support and investment, removing barriers to water storage, irrigation infrastructure, land consolidation, consulting services and access to loans.
According to the minister, the program will embrace 2 thousand hectares of irrigated land, and also technical and financial assistance will be provided to 20 farms.
The provinces of Ararat and Armavir have a population of about 500 thousand people. The project consists of two components – 4.4 million euros will be provided as technical assistance and 5.6 million euros as investment.
Prime Minister Pashinyan said: “Our bitter experience shows that we receive funds, we distribute them, we spend them, but we don’t get results. Our task should be to obtain results so that these funds translate into high quality infrastructure.”
