“As I have had occasion to say, the state budget for 2022 is based on three priorities: reform and improvement of the security system, development of infrastructure, modernization of education and science,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the joint session of the NA standing committees during the discussion of the draft law ‘On the state budget of 2022’. He spoke separately about the increase of the defense budget.
“Defense budget 2022 is 11% higher than 2021 plan; it makes more than AMD 345 billion (over $718 million). We will consistently move on path of creating professional army. The Republic of Armenia will develop its armed forces not for aggression but rather to defend itself from aggression. Armenia does not intend to conquer territories,” he stressed.
“The protection of the country’s borders in this new security environment remains a key priority. We have set a task to carry out the function of the protection of borders every year more and more through the border troops, having the vision of conducting only the border troops service in our borders in the future,” Nikol Pashinyan said.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenia’s territory, in particular the Sotk-Khoznavar section, as well as the launch of the border demarcation and delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan can create favorable conditions for solving this issue.
