Armenpress

RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan’s Greetings Message on
the Occasion of the New Year and Christmas

YEREVAN, JANUARY 1, ARMENPRESS: Dear Compatriots
in Homeland, Diaspora, Artsakh and Javakhk,
Please accept my congratulations and best wishes
for a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas. Soon the
clock will strike the last few seconds of the passing
year and the start of the new one. Let it be a year of
success and new achievements. Of course, independence
is the biggest acquisition for all of us, the 15th
anniversary of which we celebrated this year. I am
confident that during future such celebrations we will
be able to speak of ever greater achievements the
foundations of which are being formed and consolidated
today. The economic year was endowed with positive
indicators. The Government succeeded in meeting fully
and in due time, all the commitments assumed under the
State budget law, with at least 13% growth recorded by
the close of this fiscal year.
Social expenditures have gone up in parallel to
State budget’s growing capacity, and the year 2006
made no exception to the rule. A considerable increase
in budget allocations to the wage, pension, benefit
funds and to the spheres of education and health care
is envisaged for 2007, and this process will be
continued in the years ahead. Of course, there are
still many problems and unsettled issues, among which
the question of equal distribution of the GDP with the
view of lessening the gap between extreme poverty and
prosperity, the depth and consistency in the fight
against corruption, the winding up of the pace of
reform processes in a number of key areas with
enhanced efficiency in the implementation thereof.
Similarly important is that political life has been
free from any shakings this year. Parliamentary
elections are ahead of us and I am hopeful that all
the participants – public authorities, political
forces, civil society – will do everything to hold
them up to the mark.
It is a common rule to see the New Year in the
narrow circle of close relatives and friends by taking
a share in the joy of the holiday and exchanging best
wishes with festive spirits. I join these festive
wishes and, first of all, wish you peace for which our
people has paid a very high price, as well as
solidarity in the defiance of all internal and
external challenges, robust health, infinite love and
warmth in your homes coupled with a firm belief in the
future of our State.
A Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas!