YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAM. The first part of the grant of 15 million euros or 6.9 billion drams to be given to Armenia in 2008 within the frameweork of the EU New Neighborhood program is included in the draft state budget of the coming year. Pavel Safarian, the First Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Armenia, said this at the November 1 joint sitting of the National Assembly standing committees. According to him, financing of 3.2 billion drams out of this sum is envisaged for vocational educational institutions as the development and modernization of those institutions is the only event requiring financing among the list of events envisaged by the EU program. The rest sum of 3.7 billion drams is included as assistance to RA state budget. Avet Adonts, the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee for European Integration, in response to journalists' questions, expressed an idea that the state budget today does not fully reflect the financing resources directed to implementation of Eurointegration issues. According to him, besides the above mentioned EU program, there are also other programs. In particular, a translation center is envisaged to be created in the Ministry of Justice, the key goal of which is to assist to bringing the Armenian Constitution in line with European standards. It should be mentioned that 30 million drams was allocated to the ministry by the 2007 state budget for this purpose and 102 million drams is envisaged 2008 state budget.

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