BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROPOSED $55 MILLION AID TO ARMENIA IN FY 2006

PanARMENIAN.Net -

The Armenian Assembly of America has welcomed the positive components of the Bush Administration's Armenia-related foreign aid allocations of the just-released FY 2006 budget, and especially the parity it established in security aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan and the reference to humanitarian assistance to Nagorno Karabakh. The draft bill provides for $5 million each to Armenia and Azerbaijan in Foreign Military Financing and $750,000 each for International Military Education and Training. At the same time the Bush Administration asked for $55 million in economic assistance to Armenia in FY 2006 - down from last fiscal year's request of $62 million. Later the US Senate had approved "not less than" $75 million in economic aid to Armenia. In the words of Assembly Board of Directors Chairman Anthony Barsamian, the organization is determined to advocate to Congress for increased funding. Details of the Bush Administration's FY 2006 Budget described Armenia as "one of the leading performers in Eurasia in economic and political reform," and said it was for this reason that "Armenia was one of the two countries in the region deemed eligible to receive grants from the Millennium Challenge Account."