ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER RECEIVED IMF PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

Yerevan, June 13. ArmInfo. Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly
Tigran Torosyan received Permanent Representative of the International
Monetary Fund James Mchugh, Tuesday.

The Armenian parliamentary press-service told ArmInfo the sides
discussed the cooperation of the Armenian parliament and the IMF. J.

McHugh congratulated T. Torosyan on his election to the responsible
post and expressed confidence that the Armenian NA-IMF cooperation
enters a new stage. He stressed the importance of the parliamentary
control over all the stages of the Poverty Reduction Strategic Program
in Armenia as well as over the functions of the legislative power
in all those programs IMF implements jointly with the government and
the Central Bank of Armenia.

T. Torosyan said the post-Soviet transformation can be divided into
two stages: at first, economic issues are brought to foreground;
at second, political problems are settled, and democracy is developed.

The economic development in Armenia for the last five years was more
intensive than democratic processes: formation of civil society,
overcoming corruption, public polarization. The Armenian speaker said
a full success in development in the country is possible only subject
to combining the economic and political break-through, which will lead
Armenia to a proper position in the world community. T. Torosyan said
the cooperation of Armenia and IMF is a crucial factor for achievement
of this goal as IMF combines economic and political components in
its activity despite being a financial organization.

The sides pointed out the necessity of raising the public awareness.

They stated that a detailed presentation of the processes aims to give
a positive impetus to the public. The source reports the parties also
discussed the reduction of US dollar rate.