Pashinyan: $1.5 bn of army budget must come from anti-corruption driveFebruary 20, 2020 - 18:57 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - $1.5 billion from expenditures on the Armed Forces should be generated through measures taken within the country’s anti-corruption campaign, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, February 20. Pashinyan said that raising the efficiency of the fight against corruption and returning more money to the budget will be one of the most important challenges in the near future. "I would like to remind you that during the 2018 election process I made a political statement that we would have to spend $2.5 billion more on our security needs in the next five years to boost the combat readiness of the Armed Forces,” the PM said. “Out of the $2.5 billion in question, $1.5 billion should be generated an efficient fight against corruption, including through returning funds to the budget.” Pashinyan said on February 14 that $105 million was returned to the budget as a result of the anti-corruption campaign, noting that Armenia has made “tremendous progress” in its perception of corruption. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine |