YEREVAN, May 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian government has approved today a loan agreement between the ministry of finance and Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI), whereby the bank will provide 8 million euros for the purchase of stage equipment, as well as for technical re-equipment of the State Spendiaryan Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and the State Philharmonic House in Yerevan.
A deputy finance minister Pavel Safarian said the loan is repayable in 16 years with a 7 year grace period and 1 percent interest rate. According to him, the loan is to be given as part of the agreement reached during the fifth session of the Armenian-Austrian intergovernmental commission on scientific and technical, trade and economic issues, which took place on September 7-9, 2011 in Vienna. The re-equipment project will be handled by an Austrian company. -0-
