“The Government has to date supposed that the Diaspora is supporting our embassies, but it is a beggar’s mindset,” Vardan Bistanjyan, the Parliament member of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), stated, addressing RA Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safaryan at a discussion of the 2010 draft budget in Parliament today.

“Is it not time for our embassies to get sufficient funding and for us to get rid of this mindset?” Bostanjyan asked, while the Parliament was discussing the budget of the RA Foreign Office. “If we think of what might have been done, the current funds are, of course, not sufficient, but we have such means now,” Safaryan answered.

Bostanjyan objected by stating that only 4.6bn AMD are budgeted for Armenia’s diplomatic missions, whereas a total of 56bn for maintenance of public order inside the country. “Are we such a disorderly people that so much money is budgeted for maintaining public order?” he asked. Responding to the MPs’ objection, Safaryan stated that this is the “optimal proportion”. He reminded the parliamentarians that the funds budgeted for the Armenian police are “insufficient as well.”