Armenia Military Budget to Total $150 Million in 2006

PanARMENIAN.Net - The state budget of Armenia provides for defense spending a bit more than $150 million in 2006. After a closed meeting of the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs Armenian MOD head Serge Sargsyan had a conversation with journalists. In the Minister's words, for the first time the budget of Armenia is formed based not on calculations of past years, but GDP per cent correspondence. "A bit more than 3% of the GDP will be allocated for defense needs. The larger the GDP, the more money we have. As of the question whether the sum is enough, the bigger the better. The amount of spending is a minimal one to secure army defensive capacity," S. Sargsyan said. Touching upon the opportunity of other sources of defense funding, the Minister stated, "We always expect funding from other sources and the more they are the higher our army defense potential. I do not know which sources you imply, but I mean only legal ones," the Defense Minister stated. He also informed that special attention will be paid to technical re-equipment of the army. "Like in 2005, we buy arms and modern equipment in 2006," the MOD head stated.



In his turn, head of the Parliamentary Commission on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs Mher Shahgeldyan stated the defense budget "is based on resources we have." "At that we should take into account that an abrupt leap forward has taken place in Azerbaijan's military expenses," Shahgeldyan remarked.



Answering a question on the possibility of running for president, S. Sargsyan said, "For any person it is pleasant to hear good things about himself." At that he emphasized that "any office, any activities cannot be a goal in themselves and cannot move someone to steps that may harm his authority or the country image." "I ask everyone not to draw premature conclusions, not to form a confrontation. Finally, a situation may appear, in which totally different people are actors and when interests of the country may require totally different things," the Armenian Defense Minister stated, reported IA Regnum.