KARABAKH HAS RESOURCES TO BECOME A SELF-CONTAINED STATE
By Kim Gabrielian

AZG Armenian Daily
03/10/2008

Nagorno Karabakh

On Monday, NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutiunian held a press conference
to present the government’s works carried out in one year

According to him, personnel and structural changes are considered
normal, as the substantial changes are acceptable because the
government is a dynamic organism.

Appraising the executive body’s one-year activity, The Prime Minister
attached importance to the long-term programs that are finally
worked out and are in the stage of application. They refer mainly the
agricultural sphere and systems of energy and irrigation. Being an
agrarian country and having necessary resources Karabakh can become
self-contained in the sense of agricultural products. In this way,
during the Soviet period the autonomous region of Nagorno Karabakh
was feeding the whole Azerbaijan. And now the government of NKR does
everything to grow this branch of economy to the level of 1988.

About half of the republic’s population lives in the provinces and the
development of agriculture will also solve the problem of unemployment,
underlined the Prime Minister.

According to the irrigation system development program, it is
anticipated to make irrigable more than 15.000 ha area in 2-3 years.

What about power system independence that becomes urgent in conditions
of growing prices of the power-generating substances, according to
Ara Haroutiunian, in 2012 the new hydroelectric power stations will
be able to produce 300 mln kw/h electricity that will totally satisfy
NKR demand for it.

Moreover, NKR will be able even to sell electricity to neighboring
countries.

Positive results are noticeable in the sphere of education. Being
integrated into the educational system of Armenia, serious amendments
are being carried out in this sphere, mainly in the sense of
three-degree education system.

In the sense of both reforms and management, the situation was not
satisfactory in the sphere of health care, mentioned Ara Haroutiunian
adding that serious steps are being taken to improve the situation.

Commenting on RA President’s statement on proposal to Azerbaijan to
make investments in NKR, Ara Haroutiunian considered it as a joke
mentioning that the neighboring countries cannot make investments in
NKR until the conflict is settled.

Independent of the ways and mechanisms of the conflict solution, we
are obliged to solve all the social-economic issues in the country,
to have reliable, efficient army and self-contained economy, said
NKR Prime Minister.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress