YEREVAN. – It is obvious that the economic crisis is quite deep in Armenia. Arkadi Khachatryan, an MP of the opposition Bright Armenia faction of the National Assembly (NA) and chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, told about this to reporters in the parliament on Wednesday.

According to him, this economic crisis is due to both the coronavirus pandemic and the realities after the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war. "The social burden for the state has increased; that was why we believe that the 2021 budget should be revised; a new draft should be presented in general.

There are many challenges. The solution shall be in the development of the country's new security strategy which will envisage both the defense strategy of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the economic, social components. The solution is the modernization of the economy and qualitative highlights because there is no alternative to technological upgrades, educational reforms," he said.

"As for what we can do urgently, two months have already passed [since the recent war], the government should have taken it very seriously to develop a new security strategy, but all this is also a derivative of security issues. The number one issue that worries our society [now] is the issue of the return of [Armenian] captives [in Azerbaijan]. Also, many families are waiting for the remains of our martyred heroes.

There is also the issue of overcoming the political crisis. At the moment, it is not possible to solve many global problems without a stable political environment," Khachatryan said.