ARMENIAN PRESIDENT PRAISES GOVERNMENT FOR PROPERLY DEALING WITH GLOBAL CRISIS
Mediamax
April 10 2009
Armenia
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.