Epress.am News from Armenia
Why doesn’t RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian come to the National Assembly? asked Armenian National Congress (HAK) MP Nikol Pashinyan during the discussion in parliament on the amount from the 2014 state budget to be allocated to the foreign affairs ministry.
The opposition MP expressed discontent at Nalbandian’s absence, noting that before that, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan was absent; meanwhile, parliament had said earlier that both the minister and the mayor would be present during discussion of the budget. This is not the first time that a deputy minister is representing Nalbandian in parliament, he said.
Pashinyan stressed that he doesn’t want to offend those standing in for Nalbandian (such as deputy minister Shavarsh Kocharyan), but the minister’s presence is mandatory. Otherwise, according to Pashinyan, the MPs can also send their assistants to the discussions on their behalf.
In Pashinyan’s opinion, Nalbandian came to parliament once last year, and since his meeting with MPs was not pleasant for him, he is avoiding coming to parliament again.