Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's wife, Rita Sargsyan (pictured), on March 8 organized a concert for about a thousand women at the Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, reports local daily Haykakan Zhamanak.
The concert became memorable by the fact that the presenter, Hrant Tokhatyan, from the stage telephoned Serzh Sargsyan and asked him to congratulate the women on International Women's Day. And he got the president's number from his wife, Rita Sargsyan, who was in attendance.
The opposition paper reports that the concert was organized not at Rita and Serzh Sargsyan's expense, but at the expense of the state budget.
On the agenda of today's government meeting is a proposal to provide 22.4 million AMD for compensation to cover the concert's expenses. The issue will be raised by RA Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan and the money will be donated to the concert organizer, 70 years of Armenian Jazz non-governmental organization.
"For the wider modern society, International Women's Day is one of the most loved and in demand [holidays], and the implementation of this program attaches great importance to the aim of raising and redefining the role of the Armenian woman through a concert program," reads the justification for the allocation of state funds.