Consideration of the report on the “Execution of the 2016 State Budget of the Republic of Armenia” continued during a June 30 joint session of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs of the RA National Assembly chaired by Armen Ashotyan and Gagik Minasyan, reported the press service of the RA National Assembly to Hayern Aysor.

The programs carried out by the RA Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora and the funds and executive were considered.

RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan presented the activities carried out by the Ministry in 2016 and informed that the Ministry had carried out all 12 programs.

According to the Minister, the Ministry provides Syrian-Armenians with free education and healthcare and solves their social issues free of charge. “About 2,000 Syrian-Armenian children attend schools across the republic, and 500 young people study at Armenian universities. The government provides assistance in reimbursing tuition fees along with charitable foundations,” Hranush Hakobyan stated.

In his speech, First Deputy Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan also presented the expenditures of the RA Ministry of Diaspora which made up nearly AMD 1.1 billion for the implementation of 16 programs and 96% executive, the major part of which was spent for implementation of the programs for rest, culture and religion envisaged in the budgetary classification section. The Ministry used AMD 356 million for implementation of cultural programs, AMD 97 million for educational programs, and the maintenance expenditures of the Staff of the Ministry made up about AMD 350 million.