American Administration Again Suggests Reduction of Aid to Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - It is not the first year legislators are correcting administration's suggestion concerning the volume of economic aid to Armenia. For 2006 the US president suggested providing 55 million dollars to Armenia. The House of Representatives sub-committee for assignments increased that figure to 67,5 million. The Senators went even further and approved an aid of 75 million. Though not easily, congressmen and senators managed to achieve retaining of previous volumes of aid. Only in late 1990s did the congressmen fail to protect the interest of Armenia and at that time the aid to Armenia was reduced to 75 million from 90. Current volumes of aid have remained invariable for already 6-7 years. Supposedly, pro-Armenian legislators in both chambers of the parliament will set straight the point concerning Armenia this time too. But will Armenian lobbyists manage to keep the volume of aid on the same level? To all appearances disputes over the subject will be much more heated, because the sum, suggested by the White House is record-braking low. It can be noticed that the US administration intends to defend the necessity of gradual reduction of assignments to Armenia, since the economic condition in our country is much better than it was in mid 1990s. Now, the White House has still another argument: Armenia will receive aid from the United States within the frames of "Millennium Challenges" program, which is quite impressive - 236 million dollars in five years.

In any case Bush's administration does not cast doubt on the fact that Armenia deserves to receive more aid than other CIS countries. In the document, addressed to the Senate from the White House, it is said that Armenia is one of the leading countries in Eurasia in terms of making political and economic reforms. Our neighbor countries have also been honored with "complements", but theirs where not so impressive. The difference in approaches to South Caucasian countries is also clearly reflected in figures. If it is suggested to assign 50 million dollars to Armenia, Bush thinks that for Azerbaijan 28 million is quite enough. It should be noted that unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan is not going to receive aid within the frames of "Millennium Challenges" program. In total, the USA plans to assign 382 million dollars to CIS countries. Thus, Armenia will again stay on the second or third place in the world in volumes of American economic aid per head.

Unfortunately, this can be said only about economic aid. As for the aid for defense needs, the disbalance here is not on our side. The US administration suggests assigning 3,5 million dollars to Armenia and 4,5 to Azerbaijan. For training of military personnel Armenia and Azerbaijan will receive 790 and 885 thousand dollars respectively. Armenian lobby structures have already announced their intension to achieve elimination of disbalance. They were supported by the Congress Armenian group, which already includes more than 150 people. It should be noted that the US military aid to Azerbaijan will not limit to 4,5 million. In Azerbaijan the United States are implementing the seven-year "Initiative of Caspian Sea Borders Defense" program with a budget of 80 million dollars. A significant part of those funds is spent also for the military needs of Azerbaijan. The Defense Minister of Armenia Serj Sargsyan raised the issue of disbalance, during his visit to USA in October. He has talked about that with the head of Pentagon Donald Ramsfield and several influential congressmen and senators. In his interview to "Janes" magazine Serj Sargsyan said: "If the balance is broken even in 50 thousand dollars in favor of Azerbaijan, it can be understood as an encouragement to that country and the arms race, announced by Azeri authorities". Will the Armenian minister's arguments convince American politicians? The answer to this question will become clear already early in spring in the course of upcoming hearing in the Senate Committees.