Armenian Parliament hosts extraordinary meeting

The extraordinary meeting of parliament called today is discussing the ratification of the agreement on a state export loan to the Armenian government signed between the governments of Armenia and Russia.

The announcement that Russia will provide Armenia with a $200 million loan to purchase new weapons was made after the meeting of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan with the Russian minister for transportation and co-chair of the Armenian-Russian inter-governmental commission for economic cooperation, Maksim Sokolov, News.am reports.

The Russian government will allocate a loan amounting to $200 million to Armenia to purchase Russia-produced modern weaponry, Deputy Defense Minister Ara Nazaryan said in the parliament today.

The loan will be provided for 13 years with favorable terms of 3% for the first three years. At the same time, Armenia will also fund the program to the amount of 10% of the total in the form of advance payments. Nazaryan noted that the Armenian side is using the loan for 2015-2017. “This will allow Armenia to buy modern weapons, thus ensuring a balance in the South Caucasus,” he stressed.