Chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the Armenia Development Fund (ADF) Board of Trustees held a regular meeting in the Office of Government. After discussing and approving the Fund’s financial and annual performance report for 2017, the Board reviewed the program of activities and the budget for 2018.
ADF Executive Director Armen Avak Avakyan reported that during the past year a number of structural changes were made. 29 investment programs to a total cost of AMD 1,577 million drams were presented to foreign investors in the spheres of tourism, light industry, agriculture, healthcare and others. He emphasized that the investment proposals were also presented in electronic format through the platform of Investmentprojects.am website, which had as many as 22 thousand visitors in 2017. In addition, the Selectarmenia portal has been launched.
During the past year, Armenian companies concluded export contracts for 5 billion drams at various international exhibitions in the fields of jewelry, footwear, textiles and wine-making. He noted that the volume of such contracts amounted to 2 billion drams in 2016.
The Fund seeks to take the volume of export contracts to 7.8 billion drams in 2018. In general, over the past year, the Fund attracted investment programs worth USD 15 million and reinvestment programs for 2.9 million dollars. The ADF expects to bring in USD 46.8 million in foreign investments this year.
It was also reported that the Fund has set up information stands in Beirut, Dubai and Moscow in an effort to take stock of those companies keen to do business in Armenia, as well as to brief foreign companies on investment and export opportunities.
The Board next approved the Rules of Conduct, Insider Policy and the Annual Declaration on Conflict of Interest and discussed proposals for making appropriate changes to the goals and statutes of the Fund.
The Fund’s new trademark and motto were debated and approved: the meeting endorsed the proposal to rename the Armenia Development Fund into Business Armenia.
“In this way, we are sending a more direct message that we are working in the business sphere and, for this purpose, the Fund will henceforth be called Business Armenia. The potential investors will see that we are dealing with business and entrepreneurship,” Armen Avak Avakyan said.