OBAMA PLANS $40M AID TO ARMENIA IN 2011
AzerNews Weekly
Feb 4 2010
Azerbaijan
The 2011 draft budget submitted to US Congress by President Barack
Obama’s administration envisions financial assistance worth $40
million to Armenia. Also, Washington plans to allocate $3.5 million
to the country as part of the military training program, Turkish
media reported.
As for assistance to Azerbaijan, which faces a long-standing conflict
with Armenia, the aid package for next year was left unchanged at the
2010 level of $22.1m. The U.S. has designated $4.4m for international
military and education training sessions to the country.
The draft budget does not designate separate assistance for the
separatist regime operating in the Armenia-occupied Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh region of Azerbaijan.
In 2010, the Obama government had offered aid worth $30m for Armenia.
It did not allot any aid to the self-proclaimed republic. However,
Congress approved the assistance to Armenia in the amount of $41m.
Moreover, it designated $8m to the separatist regime, which drew ire
from Baku.
The Armenian Assembly of America, one of the most powerful Armenian
lobby groups in the United States, has claimed in a statement that
the 2011 aid package for Armenia should make up at least $70m.
Bianka Dodov, the Assembly’s Congressional Relations Associate, said
the organization would work with "friends" in Congress to achieve
increasing aid to Armenia and the allocation of assistance to the
separatist regime.
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Upper Garabagh and
seven adjacent districts, has been under Armenian occupation for
nearly two decades. Defying international law, the separatist regime
in Upper Garabagh declared so-called independence in 1991, which has
not been recognized by the world community.*