On November 3, the standing committees of the National Assembly continued discussions on the draft of the RA Law “On the 2015 State Budget of the Republic of Armenia”, as reported on the official website of the National Assembly.

The funds to be allocated to the spheres of science, education, culture, the Diaspora, sport, youth and information provided for by the draft of the Law “On the 2015 State Budget of the Republic of Armenia” were discussed during the joint session of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport and the NA Standing Committee on Finance, Credit and Budgetary Issues moderated by Artak Davtyan and Artsvik Minasyan.

RA First Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safaryan presented the amount of funds allocated to the mentioned sectors, after which the leaders of those sectors presented the programs to be implemented in 2015 and attached importance to the implementation of new programs.

RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan mentioned that the programs for next year will stem from the Armenia-Diaspora conference and the events dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Mrs. Hakobyan mentioned that funding for the “Ari Tun” Program has increased by 15 million drams and set aside the activities and expenditures for the integration of Syrian-Armenians and Iraqi-Armenians in Armenia.

RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan informed that the content-based expenditures have increased in the field of education and that the number of students at public schools has increased as well. Among the new educational programs, the minister set aside the concept on patriotic discipline, the national program for excellence, the robot construction program and more. According to the minister, 11437.7 million drams has been envisaged for higher education, which is 17.6 percent higher than the amount allocated in 2014. Armen Ashotyan mentioned that the growth of funding for science is disproportionate and attached importance to the tips for scientific workers, for which the government has envisaged 938 million drams.

There will be 26,118,400 drams provided for the implementation of programs for vacation, culture and religion, and 13,393,200 drams will be allocated for the sphere of cultural services, compared to 1,806,700 drams in 2014.

RA Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan set aside the major programs that the ministry will be working on in 2015. There will be 1,850,100 drams for vacation and sport, compared to 1,806,700 in 2014.

There will be 8,830,200 drams in funding for the broadcasting of radio and television programs and publishing, and 826.6 million drams will be allocated for the implementation of youth programs, compared to 613.4 million drams in 2014.

After the joint session, the field representatives, including RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, RA Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan, RA Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Gabriel Ghazaryan, Chairman of the National Commission on Television and Radio of the Republic of Armenia Gagik Buniatyan and Chairman of the RA Council for Public TV and Radio Ruben Jaghinyan answered the deputies’ questions.