WASHINGTON'S AID TO ARMENIA WILL BE TWICE AS MUCH THE AID TO AZERBAIJAN
Members of the American parliament support the idea of showing special attitude towards Armenia.
The US Senate assignments committee has started considering the bill on 2006 foreign assignments for the support to developing countries. According to the bill approved by the profile subcommittee the financial aid to Armenia will not be reduced. Meanwhile it should be mentioned that the administration suggested to provide Armenia with nearly one third less of the funds allotted in 2005.
So far it is not possible to give a definite answer about the sizes of the U.S. aid to Armenia. The thing is that the bill approval process is rather long. The document has still passed only three fourth of the necessary procedures. Before the document can acquire force of the law it has to be "polished up" on 7-8 levels. Up to now the bill has been approved in profile subcommittees, the House committee and the plenary session of the lower chamber. After making some corrections in the document the Senate subcommittee passed it to the profile committee. After the approval on this stage the document will be considered in the Senate after which it will be considered by the conciliatory committee consisting of representatives from both chambers. After achieving some compromise variant the project will again be sent back to the Senate and the House for approval. If there are no disagreements the approved document will be submitted to the President. Only in that case we shall be able to talk about the sum of money allotted to Armenia.
However, it should be mentioned that currently the bill proceeds in a way that is very favorable for us because nearly on all the stages the figures referring to Armenia were reviewed only for increasing. Thus, considering the opinion of the subcommittee the House committee decided to increase the financial support to Armenia up to 67,5 million US dollars. It is worth reminding that the administration suggested to allot 55 million. (393 congressmen out of 425 supported the document). During the Wednesday session of the subcommittee on Senate foreign assignments the sum was increased to 75 million. There are grounds to suppose that the committee will approve the sum and will submit that to the approval of the Senate, which will most likely support the initiative.
Disagreements between the administration and lawmakers concerning the sizes of the financial aid to Armenia have a long history. It is already the fifth year the White House suggests to reduce the aid to Armenia but the lawmakers have always managed to increase the figures thanks to the successful lobbying activities of the local Armenian community. For the past 10 years the aid to Armenia from the United States has been reduced by only 15 million US dollars. (In early 90s it was 90 million. It should be taken into account that today the economic condition of Armenia is incomparably better than it was during the years of blockade and energetic crisis). In the White House they of course realize that the congressmen will try to protect the interests of Armenians, but nevertheless every time they suggest to reduce the sizes of the aid to Armenia. Armenian lobbyists argue their initiative by the continued blockade, the fact that official Washington makes less efforts than necessary to remove the blockade and the administration's promise to cancel the amendment 907 to the Freedom Support Act that supposed sanctions against Azerbaijan. At that time the White House promised to guarantee stable aid to Armenia in change for the agreement of congressmen to give aid to Azerbaijan.
It is worth mentioning that the congressmen accepted the figures in the bill reflecting the aid to be given next year to Azerbaijan. Baku will receive from Washington only 38 million US dollars, that is two times as less than the sum lawmakers suggest to give to Yerevan. At the same time Nagorno-Karabakh will also receive aid from the United States. Like in the previous years Stepanakert will receive 5 million dollars. The sum will be sent directly to Stepanakert which is regarded in Baku as an indirect recognition of NKR sovereignty.
All the mentioned figures refer to economic support. The sizes of military support are settled in the bill separately. In this question the administration and lawmakers do not have any disagreements. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan will receive 5 million 750 thousand US dollars, 750.000 out which will be used for foreign military trainings.
Parity in the sizes of the military support should be considered an achievement since the active participation of Azerbaijan in the antiterrorist coalition created by Americans enabled official Baku to receive funds for military needs. In that case the military support to Azerbaijan was half as much again the support to Armenia. Now Yerevan and Baku are equal military partners for Washington and this fact approves the bill on foreign assignments.
However, it should be mentioned that currently the bill proceeds in a way that is very favorable for us because nearly on all the stages the figures referring to Armenia were reviewed only for increasing. Thus, considering the opinion of the subcommittee the House committee decided to increase the financial support to Armenia up to 67,5 million US dollars. It is worth reminding that the administration suggested to allot 55 million. (393 congressmen out of 425 supported the document). During the Wednesday session of the subcommittee on Senate foreign assignments the sum was increased to 75 million. There are grounds to suppose that the committee will approve the sum and will submit that to the approval of the Senate, which will most likely support the initiative.
Disagreements between the administration and lawmakers concerning the sizes of the financial aid to Armenia have a long history. It is already the fifth year the White House suggests to reduce the aid to Armenia but the lawmakers have always managed to increase the figures thanks to the successful lobbying activities of the local Armenian community. For the past 10 years the aid to Armenia from the United States has been reduced by only 15 million US dollars. (In early 90s it was 90 million. It should be taken into account that today the economic condition of Armenia is incomparably better than it was during the years of blockade and energetic crisis). In the White House they of course realize that the congressmen will try to protect the interests of Armenians, but nevertheless every time they suggest to reduce the sizes of the aid to Armenia. Armenian lobbyists argue their initiative by the continued blockade, the fact that official Washington makes less efforts than necessary to remove the blockade and the administration's promise to cancel the amendment 907 to the Freedom Support Act that supposed sanctions against Azerbaijan. At that time the White House promised to guarantee stable aid to Armenia in change for the agreement of congressmen to give aid to Azerbaijan.
It is worth mentioning that the congressmen accepted the figures in the bill reflecting the aid to be given next year to Azerbaijan. Baku will receive from Washington only 38 million US dollars, that is two times as less than the sum lawmakers suggest to give to Yerevan. At the same time Nagorno-Karabakh will also receive aid from the United States. Like in the previous years Stepanakert will receive 5 million dollars. The sum will be sent directly to Stepanakert which is regarded in Baku as an indirect recognition of NKR sovereignty.
All the mentioned figures refer to economic support. The sizes of military support are settled in the bill separately. In this question the administration and lawmakers do not have any disagreements. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan will receive 5 million 750 thousand US dollars, 750.000 out which will be used for foreign military trainings.
Parity in the sizes of the military support should be considered an achievement since the active participation of Azerbaijan in the antiterrorist coalition created by Americans enabled official Baku to receive funds for military needs. In that case the military support to Azerbaijan was half as much again the support to Armenia. Now Yerevan and Baku are equal military partners for Washington and this fact approves the bill on foreign assignments.
