INTERNATIONAL LOANS WILL FORCE ARMENIA TO MAKE POLITICAL CONCESSIONS: BAGRATYAN

Tert.am
17:16 ~U 18.01.10

Armenia is in need of serious medical assistance in both policy and
economy, said Armenian National Congress (ANC) representative and
former prime minister Hrant Bagratyan in a press conference today.

"It doesn’t take an economist to understand that the situation is
devastating," he said.

The ANC rep turned his attention to the loans Armenia has received
from international agencies in order to fight against the crisis
from Russia.

"If you don’t return the funds after 4 years, you have to make
political concessions," he noted, adding, that if the Armenian side,
as it seems today, is refraining from the proposed solutions to
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a few years down the line
"it’ll be begging for it."

As for the country’s economic growth, the former prime minister
drew attention to the fact that, over the last 2 years, Armenia has
fallen behind Azerbaijan twice. Bagratyan is convinced that "a group
of patriotic individuals" could take charge of the situation.

"We will change the tax system, we won’t allow the working president
to be a millionaire, like the second president. And we won’t allow
the church to get involved in business affairs… then what Christ?"
concluded Bagratyan.