US ADMINISTRATION SUGGESTS CURTAILING AID TO ARMENIA IN 2003

PanARMENIAN.Net - The bill submitted by US Administration for Congress consideration provides for rendering 70 million US dollars aid to Armenia in 2003, while it was decided to allocate 94 million this year. The White House plans to give Yerevan 3 million dollars to satisfy military needs next year and 750 thousand for military education. (Armenia will get $4 million in foreign military financing assistance and $400,000 in international military education and training assistance this year.) Let us note that the bill provides for reducing the scope of aid to all newly independent states. The Armenian Assembly of America has come out against curtailing the volume of aid to Armenia. AAA leadership considers that the Administration's initiative does not mean that aid will be really retrenched. As it is known the White House had suggested cutting down aid to Armenia in 2002 noticeably, but the legislators finally approved of a sum, which far exceeded the one provided for by the bill before. In the words of Assembly Government Relations Director Bryan Ardouny, "the Assembly will work with its friends in Congress to ensure the appropriate level of aid for Armenia."