US Ambassador to Armenia: Since 1988 the U.S. government has provided almost two billion dollars of humanitarian aid and development assistance for Armenia

Since international assistance to Armenia began over twenty years ago with the relief effort following the 1988 earthquake, the U.S. government has provided almost two billion dollars of humanitarian aid and development assistance for Armenia's economic, social and governance sectors, US Ambassador to Armenia Marie L. Yovanovitch says in her statement.

"The Obama Administration's request for Armenia for FY 2010 ($30 million) is 25 percent above the last Bush Administration budget request ($24 million was requested for FY 2009; Congress doubled this
request to $48 million). The actual level of assistance for Armenia for FY 2010 has not yet been determined by the U.S. Congress",- Yovanovitch says.

With respect to funding for Nagorno-Karabakh, there has never been a budget request sent to Congress because there is no mechanism for doing so in the budget process. Rather, the humanitarian assistance provided to Nagorno-Karabakh is worked out afterwards, during the budget negotiation between Congress and the Administration.

Regarding military assistance, the Administration's FMF request for Armenia in FY 2010 is the same level as Armenia received in FY 2009. There has been no decrease. The specific increase for Azerbaijan is linked to U.S. priorities in peacekeeping and maritime security, particularly regarding proliferation and drug trafficking on the Caspian Sea.

"The respective levels requested for Armenia and Azerbaijan are carefully considered and calibrated to ensure that they do not adversely affect the military balance in the region or undermine efforts for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; they do, however, provide appropriate assistance to each country that will enhance their interoperability and military professionalism",- she says.

To note, the US ambassador made this statement in response to news reports carried recently by several media outlets regarding assistance from the United States for Armenia.

The news reports said that the US Administration intends to provide Armenia with 30 mln USD in FY 2010 as against 48 mln USD in 2009. It was also reported that the US budget will include no item of
provision of humanitarian aid for Nagorno-Karabakh while in FY 2009 Karabakh was provided with 8 mln USD humanitarian aid.

/ArmInfo/