YEREVAN. – A new bridge will be constructed at Bagratashen, which is the largest border-crossing point at Armenia’s northern boundary.  

Armenia’s Finance Minister Vache Gabrielyan and Paul-Henri Forestier, the Director for Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), on Friday signed the respective loan agreement, which is worth €10.3 million.    

As per Gabrielyan, the construction will commence next spring and the old bridge will be used as a reserve road. 

To note, the project toward modernizing all of Armenia’s border checkpoints is estimated to be worth €62.6 million in total. Aside from the EBRD, the European Investment Bank, European Union, the latter’s Neighborhood Investment Program, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) likewise are donor organizations in this project.        

In his turn, Paul-Henri Forestier noted that the new bridge will contribute to growth in trade, improvement of service quality at the checkpoints, and increase in tourism.