ARMENIAN PREMIER UNRUFFLED BY AZERBAIJAN’S GROWING MILITARY SPENDING
ArmInfo, Armenia
Sept 12 2007
Yerevan, 12 September: The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group will
arrive in the region by the end of this week to meet the presidents
of Armenia and the Nagornyy Karabakh republic, Armenian Prime Minister
Serzh Sargsyan said in parliament while answering MPs’ questions.
Sargsyan expressed confidence that today there is no serious threat
to Nagornyy Karabakh’s security, even if we take account of the
development of Azerbaijan’s economy which has been growing at the
expense of oil resources. "If we are more careful and try to analyze
statements by the Azerbaijani leadership, we will see that they have
not achieved their goal," the prime minister noted.
Sargsyan recalled that [Azerbaijani president] Ilham Aliyev had
pledged that the 2007 military budget of the Azerbaijani Republic
would equal the entire budget of Armenia.
"They failed to do this. Armenia’s budget in 2008 will total 2.5bn
dollars and Armenia’s military expenditure will equal the entire
budget of Armenia in 1998. I have information that Azerbaijan’s
budget in 2008 will total 6-6.5bn dollars from which 1bn will be
military expenditure. The Armenian leadership, and in particular,
the president are doing everything possible to ensure a balance of
forces in the region," Sargsyan said.