The partnership was established in 2020, when the French Development Agency, represented by its subsidiary Proparco, provided a long-term subordinated credit facility of EUR 1.5 million. The agreement signed today marks the entry of bilateral cooperation into a new phase, which will contribute to the development of the cooperative's capacity and access to international financial resources.

The agreement envisages financing the acquirement of the Institutional rating by an international rating agency. An international rating will expand the cooperative’s ability to attract investment. Within the framework of technical assistance, it is also planned to finance the Client Protection Certification process. The latter is especially important and valued by the social and impact investors.

FCA is the only cooperative credit structure operating in the Republic of Armenia, which functions only in the regions of the country, providing loans exclusively to the real sector of the economy. The cooperative was founded in 2007 by 57 farmers and now has more than 9,000 members and shareholders. The total capital of the credit cooperative is 2.1 billion AMD, the assets totals 13 billion AMD.

Proparco is the private sector financing arm of AFD: financing and support for projects led by companies and financial institutions in developing and emerging countries – from SMEs to regional banking groups, including microfinance institutions.