Mediamax, Armenia
April 10 2009

Armenian president praises government for properly dealing with global
crisis

Yerevan, 10 April: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said today in
Yerevan that "one should welcome the transparent work style of the
Armenian prime minister [Tigran Sargsyan], his resoluteness, and
confidence in the future".

The president made the statement today, answering a question on his
assessment of the work of Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and
the government, the Mediamax news agency reported.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed his satisfaction with the circumstance that
"we have managed to set up a capable government and chose proper staff
ahead of the global crisis".

The Armenian president said overcoming consequences of the crisis was
a major challenge faced by the authorities of the country. Serzh
Sargsyan admitted that both the reduction in the scale of financial
aid, which comes into the republic in the form of private transfers,
and the reduction in the number of Armenian citizens, who are on
seasonal work abroad, are having an impact on the economic situation
in the country.

At the same time, Serzh Sargsyan said that the crisis only increased
the authorities’ resoluteness in implementing such large
infrastructure projects as the construction of Iran-Armenia railway, a
joint Armenian-Iranian hydroelectric power plant on the Aras river,
and a pipeline to supply petrol and diesel fuel from Iran to Armenia.

"These projects will not only change our role in the region, but will
also change the regional distribution of forces", the president of the
state said.

Speaking about the devaluation of the national currency [dram] at the
beginning of March, Serzh Sargsyan said that the inflation became a
major negative outcome of this decision [to set a floating exchange
rate of dram]. The president called on appropriate entities to closely
monitor pricing and not to allow groundless price hikes. As for
positive aspects, the president said that the weakening of dram had
had a positive impact on domestic producers.