YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA minister of transport and communication Gurgen Sargsyan on March 18 received the head of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Unit for Central Asia and Caucasus Kenichi Yamatoto. Underlining the importance of close cooperation with JICA, the minister said that it will promote development of the Armenian economy. Speaking about the process of working out a new credit program on Armenian rural road repairs by JICA, G. Sargsyan noted it is at the final stage, and the documents will be ready soon. The JICA representative presented the rural road repairs credit program in detail, saying that it will amount to 50-100 million USD and be provided on preferential conditions. He said that a visit of JICA mission to Armenia is scheduled for early May, during which the amount and terms of the financing, as well as the conditions of the credit agreement will be discussed in detail. K. Yamatoto assured the minister that in case of successful bilateral negotiations, the credit agreement with Armenia will be signed by the end of 2009. According to spokeswoman for the RA minister of transport and communication Susanna Tonoyan, the sides also addressed the problem of road maintenance, for solution of which JICA is likely to provide financial and technical assistance.

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