THE MEETING OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
17 Sept 04

On September 15 the first plenary meeting of the 9th session of the NKR
National Assembly took place. In his address the speaker of the
National Assembly Oleg Yessayan condemned the terrorist action in
Beslan and expressed condolence in the name of the parliament for the
tragic consequences of the monstrous crime. The members of parliament
kept a minute of silence in honour of the innocent victims of the
tragedy. The meeting confirmed the program of legislative activities
of the ninth session consisting of 24 points. It was mentioned
that new bills undertaken by the government might be added to the
program, mostly connected with the upcoming budget discussions. Before
confirming the agenda of the session the parliament met the suggestion
of member of parliament Edward Aghabekian to withdraw his undertaking
â^À^ÜOn amendments to the NKR law on privatization of the state
propertyâ^À^Ý. As a procedure question the meeting confirmed the
staff of the NA temporary counting commission: members of parliament
Souren Sarghissian (chairman of the commission), Artur Sarghissian
(secretary of the commission) and Albert Hambardzoumian. The first
point on the agenda was the question of choosing a chairman of the
permanent committee of social matters. It was stated that starting
from the legislative act according to which the same person cannot
assume two posts simultaneously the chairman of the commission Edward
Aghabekian who was elected head of the town community of Stepanakert
at the recent elections to municipalities presented an application for
releasing him from the former post. The speaker of the NA congratulated
Edward Aghabekian for being elected mayor of Stepanakert, thanked
him for effective organization of the activity of the committee
and wished further success in his new office. The leader of the NA
faction of Democratic Liberal Union, Janna Galstian suggested the
candidacy of member of parliament Vasili Atajanian. There were no
other suggestions. Close secret balloting was held and the majority
voted for Vasili Abgari Atanessian. According to the agenda the meeting
discussed a number of documents of vital importance. The NKR minister
of finance and economy Spartak Tevossian presented the government
report on budget execution in the first semester of 2004. The
deputy chairman of the NA permanent committee of finance, budget
and economic management Souren Sarghissian presented the positive
conclusion of the committee. According to the government report,
against the owned receipts of 1771100.0 thousand AM drams provided
by the state budget the actual receipts totaled 2628319.6 thousand
drams which is 148.4 per cent of the planned rate. Against the actual
receipts of the same period last year the actual receipts increased
by 1243428.2 thousand drams, the growth totaled 89.8 per cent. The
parliament discussed also the bill â^À^ÜOn Lottery Gamesâ^À^Ý. It was
mentioned that this bill is a novelty in our country and although
there are no corresponding agencies in the republic involved in
this type of activity, the document will be an attempt to fill the
gap. The bills on amendments to the â^À^ÜLaw on state pensionsâ^À^Ý
and â^À^ÜLaw on social security of parentless children â^À^Ý were
offered for discussion by the minister of social security Lenston
Ghulian. He mentioned that the first bill provides increasing the
size of the pensions of parentless children five times the basic
pension reaching it to 15 thousand drams from January 1, 2005. The
second maintains the privileged order of providing housing area to
parentless children. Both the laws were adopted. At the second reading
of the bill â^À^ÜOn amendments to the law on the repressedâ^À^Ý the
author of the undertaking Levon Hayrian presented a report. Mentioning
that in the past months no new suggestions were made on the project,
the chairman of the permanent committee on state and legal questions
Youri Hayrapetian addressed the members of parliament to pass the
project as a final law. The law was adopted. Then the briefing with
the participation of the government and prime minister Anoushavan
Danielian was held. The questions set forth by members of parliament
Ararat Petrossian, Artur Mosiyan and Kamo Barseghian referred to
the problems of privatization of state property, the fate of the
liberated territories, struggle against the wild animals dangerous
for the village population. After the first plenary meeting of the
ninth session of the NKR National Assembly at the suggestion of the
faction of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation behind closed doors
the members of parliament exchanged viewpoints on the statements of
the Chief of the NKR Defence Army Headquarters Major-General Movses
Hakobian published in Armenian press.

AA. 17-09-2004