On September 7, Bruce Donahue, Charge d'affaires, a.i. of the United States Embassy in Armenia, and Aghvan Hovsepyan, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, signed an agreement to amend the Letter of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement between the Government of the USA and the Government of Armenia.

This is the 13th amendment to the original Letter of Agreement signed in 2001, according to which the United States undertakes to provide Armenia additional justice sector assistance in the amount of approximately 2,3 million dollars.

''The assistance provided through the new agreement will benefit the Armenian people by continuing to help the Government of Armenia more effectively fight transnational crimes such as human trafficking, the illicit international drug trade, and money laundering. It will also augment Armenia's law enforcement capacities and support overall judicial and legislative reform,'' reads the web-site of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia.

Some of the projects supported by the assistance include assistance to victims of human trafficking, the upgrading of the forensic laboratory of the National Bureau of Expertise, and the strengthening of the Central Bank of Armenia's anti-money laundering capacities.

Since the signing of the original Letter of Agreement in 2001, the United States has provided over 16 million dollars of justice sector assistance to Armenia through the U.S. Embassy's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Section.