On 20 February, Armenia's government gave the green light three financial agreements with the European Union, reported arka.am. 

Under the agreements, the EU will provide Armenia with 65 million euros to implement of three programs in such areas as energy efficiency, environment and community development and formation of tools for implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said the amount is two times higher than the amount provided for the implementation of similar programs in 2017and 2018. 

He said that under the first program the government will receive 5 million euros for cleaning Lake Sevan, 3.7 million euros for the development of a legislative framework for energy efficiency and energy saving, and 17 million euros for the formation of tools for an investment platform in the same field.

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also commented on the funds given to boost Armenia’s energy efficiency.  “Those 17 million euros will be loan grants; that is, it’s going to be a mix. Seventeen million euros is a serious sum, and it can have an effect of zeroing the interest rate of about 100 million euros of loan,“ he said.

He also recalled that they would also consider introducing pellet heating, which is used in many European countries. "That is, neither [natural] gas nor electricity is used to heat the apartment, but briquettes are used, the production of which we have spoken about,” he added. 

Under the second program the government will receive 11 million euros for the development of communities. A component of this program provides assistance to business migrants, for Armenian citizens who want to return to Armenia and start their businesses here.

The third agreement is aimed at the implementation of various measures as part of CEPA. One of the measures worth 18.7 million euros will assist in the implementation of the program, which implies attracting highly qualified experts for consultations. All government agencies will be able to use this component.

The EU programme of financial and technical cooperation supports Armenia’s ambitious reform agenda. A significant number of projects are currently being carried out across a wide range of sectors, regions and cities in Armenia. The planned amount of EU assistance to Armenia for the period 2017-2020 was up to €160 million. The money was distributed in the following policy areas: 1)economic development and market opportunities (35%), 2) strengthening institutions and good governance (15%), 3) connectivity, energy efficiency, environment and climate change (15%), 4) mobility and people-to-people contacts (15%), 5) complementary support for capacity development/institution building and strategic communication (15%), 6) complementary support for civil society development (5%).