Interview of the head of "Rietumu Bank" Armenian representative office Elton Chaus to Mediamax agency and Banks.am portal.

- Mr. Chaus, "Rietumu Bank" Armenian representative office has operated in Armenia about 1.5 years. On the whole, how would you assess the operation of the representative office in our country? Did you manage to reveal "the peculiarities of the Armenian business" over this time. Are you content with the Yerevan office, isn't it difficult to manage its operation in distance?

- As a country's embassy, a bank's representative office fulfills two main functions - provides information on its parent state and keeps track of the situation and options on the spot. Both functions are fulfilled by Rietumu Bank representative office in Yerevan successfully.

One should understand that Latvia with its unfrozen ports and a multi-modal transport system integrated with the CIS countries is the key transit link between East and West. A large number of cargoes including cargoes from Transcaucasia or vice versa, to your region, pass through the Latvian terminals. A sustainable growth is registered in the sphere for already several years in a row. These processes should be relevantly funded and provided with financial service. That is - presence of banks. And we are a bank. Our motto is to be closer to customers - both to current and future ones.

The scope of my business connections and contacts here in Yerevan constantly grows and expands. My business schedule contains many meetings and negotiations. I think I felt and understood those "national business peculiarities" about which you ask over the time of my work and I have learnt to productively work and live in the local environment.

We strive our Yerevan representative office to make "a small piece" of Latvia, the make its spirit present and "Baltic style" felt here. My colleagues, specialists in various areas, often come on business trips to Armenia. We are always in contact with the Riga headquarters which is always aware of what is going on here. Only this way is it possible to ensure flexibility, efficiency and individual approach which Rietumu is famous for.

- A year ago, First Vice President of Rietumu Bank Ruslan Stecuk told Banks.am that negotiations with some Armenian customers on providing European residence permit were underway. In particular, he noted that "there are people in Armenia as well who have interests in Europe, business with European partners and the European residence permit which Latvia offers is this or that way urgent for them”. How did the negotiations end?

- Talking about the overall situation over the past 3 years, I can say that about 700 customers of the bank and their family members from many countries including China got residence permits in Latvia supported by Rietumu.

The difference of the Latvian residence permit from say Estonian one is that it doesn't imply mandatory living in Latvia. For instance, one should spend not less than 6 months a year to preserve the residence permit in the EU countries while there aren't such requirements in Latvia. It attracts many people including your compatriots who want to get good travel documents which allow visiting Schengen countries in a easier and more convenient way more than to settle in Latvia. Of course, some of them decided to live in Latvia “seriously”, to speak figuratively: they buy apartments, spend their vacations, long week-ends, send their children or retired parents here. And some of them already started transferring a part of their business to the Baltic shores. Everything is very individual.

Yet there is more important thing. As experts think, Latvia is among top 5 states of the world with the favorable emigration policy. The investor and his family members can get a residence permit in literally a month - the local state bodies operate accurately as clock.

- Both you and Mr. Stecuk noted your intentions to take part in the program for syndicated lending jointly with the Armenian banks. More than a year passed so far - were your plans realized?

- The talks on this matter are underway. As a rule, as a syndicated lending organization we always provide information to the press upon completion of such big deals. And this case won't be an exception.

Elton Chaus was interviewed by Khoren Ormanyan.