By Eva Sahakyan

YEREVAN, August 27 — Armenia will receive about $53 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Alexander Kalantarian, specialist on foreign relations of the coordinating office of IFAD-Armenia joint programs, informed the Armenian news agency ARKA.

The funds will be used for the restoration of agricultural infrastructures and for the development of industrial viticulture with the assistance of OPEC Fund and the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

The program will be implemeted in seven regions of the Republic of Armenia — Shirak, Lori, Aragatsotn, Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor, Syunik and Tavush.

After the preliminary signing of the program in the Ministry of Finances, it will be approved in the IFAD council. According to Kalantarian the IFAD funds will be lent on 0.75 percent for a term of 20 years.

The IFAD has implemented several programs in the Republic of Armenia in the agricultural sphere. This is the fifth IFAD program in Armenia — the first one was implemented in 1996 and was aimed at restoring irrigation systems.

The IFAD is UN-specialized agency. Since its establishment it has lent $10 billion for funding more than 700 programs, aimed at giving assistance to 300 million poor villagers in different countries of the world.

Yerevan Report