TIGRAN SARGSYAN: ARMENIA ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO EXPANSION AND DEEPENING OF RELAT ONS WITH ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Noyan Tapan March 10, 2010 YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia attaches importance to the expansion and deepening of its relations with the Asian Development Bank, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated on March 9, when receiving the bank's delegation headed by Werner Liepach, ADB Deputy Director for the Central and Western region. The RA Government Information and PR Department reported that during the meeting the interlocutors discussed a number of issues of mutual interest, in particular the construction of the North-South Highway. In the prime minister's words, this construction is one of the priority programs of the Armenian government, and Armenia has already begun establishing the Program Implementation Office to coordinate the implementation of construction work in Armenia with the participation of the ADB. The prime minister spoke about the creation of a free economic zone at Zvartnots Airport and the establishment of a wholesale network of agricultural products, underlining the importance of ADB's assistance in this work. The sides also discussed the railway construction and the project of developing transport services in Yerevan. According to T. Sargsyan, the RA ministry of economy had been instructed to submit a complex export-related program to the government this year. He expressed a hope that the involvement of ADB experts in that program may be of great use to Armenia. The sides stressed the importance of projects on proportionate development of areas and the ADB's participation in them.