ARMENIAN FOREIGN OFFICE’S BUDGET TO REMAIN UNCHANGED
news.am
Nov 5 2009
Armenia
The funding of Armenia’s Foreign Office next year will remain
unchanged, RA Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safaryan stated in
Parliament, without citing particular figures.
NEWS.am’s attempts to receive more detailed information proved futile.
Safaryan said that the approximate sum is 6bn AMD. Not only the
financial experts of the RA Foreign Office, but also RA Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian found it difficult to report exact
figures as well. The RA Foreign Minister referred journalists to
Pavel Safaryan again.
So it turns out that both Minister Edward Nalbandian and other
Government members are not at all interested in the budget of the RA
Foreign Office. Safaryan pointed out that the Protocol Department
of the RA Foreign Office will receive smaller funds next year than
this year. 14bn AMD less will be directed to business trips, and
3bn AMD less to liaison. A total of 1.071bn AMD will be allocated as
Armenia’s membership at international organizations, with 832m AMD
for next year and 239m for the previous years.
A total of 4.006bn AMD will be allocated to Armenia’s diplomatic
missions abroad – as much as this year. Safaryan pointed out that
the revaluation of U.S dollar and Euro created some problems with
diplomats’ salaries, which, in terms of USD and Euro, have decreased.
A total of 92m AMD are intended for cultural and religious events
organized by the RA Foreign Office. Safaryan said that 20m AMD of
them will be allocated to the Armenian Drama after Petros Adamyan
in Tbilisi, 4m AMD for the pantheon of Armenian poets in Tbilisi,
10m AMD to the Armenian-language newspaper Georgia, 20m AMD for the
preservation of Armenian cultural monuments abroad. Other expenses
will reach 32m AMD.
Speaking in Parliament, Shirak Torosyan of the Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) pointed out the inadvisability of funding the Georgia
newspaper — the advisor to the Georgian President, who encourages
Georgia’s anti-Armenian policy in Javakhk (a Georgian region densely
populated by Armenians) and hailed the court verdict on Vahagn
Chakhalyan, has been appointed editor-in-chief of the newspaper.