The central banks of China and Armenia have exchanged $160 million worth of each other’s national currency in an effort to boost to growing bilateral economic relations.
The governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, and his Armenian opposite number, Artur Javadian, signed a corresponding agreement in Beijing on Wednesday in the presence of the two countries’ presidents, Xi Jinping and Serzh Sarkisian.
The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) said it swapped 77 billion drams ($160 million) for 1 billion yuan. “The swap agreement is aimed at increasing trade turnover and direct investments between the two countries,” the CBA said in a statement. It did not go into details.
Xi and Sarkisian mentioned such financial arrangements in an extensive joint declaration issued after their talks. The declaration says that their governments will find “flexible and numerous methods of financing” Chinese-Armenian investment projects and other commercial deals.
Under another agreement signed during the Chinese-Armenian summit, Armenia will purchase Chinese-made x-ray scanning equipment for its customs service with a 155.5 million-yuan ($25 million) loan to be provided by the state-run Export-Import Bank of China. The government said last week that it will repay the 20-year loan with the Chinese currency.
Xi and Sarkisian also presided over the signing of a “framework agreement” on another low-interest Chinese loan to Yerevan. The amount and key terms of the credit are not yet known.
Economic issues were reportedly the main focus of Sarkisian’s talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held on Thursday. A statement by Sarkisian’s press office said the two men praised rapid growth in Armenia’s trade with China, which reached nearly $600 million last year. They also agreed that the two governments “should not content themselves with the existing achievements” and will strive for more bilateral commerce and “Chinese investments in the Armenian economy.”
The statement spoke of “great potential” for closer Chinese-Armenian economic cooperation in a number of areas, including energy and transport. It said a Chinese-Armenian intergovernmental commission will discuss the matter in greater detail when it meets in Yerevan this summer.