iram Women's Movement or SWM [Shoger
MATEVOSIAN]; Armenian Communist Party or ACP [Sergey BADALYAN];
National Democratic Union or NDU [Davit VARDANIAN and Vasgen
MANUKIAN]; Union of National Self-Determination or NSDU [Paruir
HAIRIKIAN, chairman]; Democratic Liberal Party or DLP [Rouben
MIRZAKHANIAN, chairman]; Armenian Revolutionary Federation or ARF
[Rouben HAKOBIAN, chairman]

International organization participation: BSEC, CCC, CE (guest), CIS,
EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO,
IMF, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NACC, NAM
(observer), OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Ruben SHUGARIAN
chancery: 2225 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 319-1976
FAX : [1] (202) 319-2982
consulate(s) general: Los Angeles

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Peter TOMSEN
embassy: 18 Gen Bagramian, Yerevan
mailing address : use embassy street address
telephone: [374] (2) 151-144, 524-661
FAX: [374] (2) 151-550

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), blue, and
gold

Economy

Economy - overview: Under the old Soviet central planning system,
Armenia had developed a modern industrial sector, supplying machine
building tools, textiles, and other manufactured goods to sister
republics in exchange for raw materials and energy. Since the
implosion of the USSR in December 1991, Armenia has switched to
small-scale agriculture away from the large agroindustrial complexes
of the Soviet area. The privatization of industry has been at a much
slower pace. Armenia is a food importer and its mineral deposits
(gold, bauxite) are small. The ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan over
the ethnic Armenian-dominated region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the
embargoes imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey contributed to a severe
economic decline in the early 1990s. By 1994, however, the Armenian
Government had launched an ambitious IMF-sponsored economic program
that has resulted in positive growth rates in 1995 and 1996. Armenia
also managed to slash inflation and to privatize most small and
medium-sized enterprises. The chronic energy shortages Armenia
suffered in recent years has been partially offset by the energy
supplied by one of its nuclear power plants at Metsamor, which in 1996
supplied about 40% of the country'