YEREVAN, November 4 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) - U.S. Congress has approved a bill to grant $75 million in aid to Armenia in 2006 and $3 million to Nagorny Karabakh, the area in Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population, which emerged as a self-proclaimed republic following armed conflicts in the early 1990s.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) said Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan would also receive $5 million each for military purposes and an additional $750,000 each for military training and exercises.
ANCA Managing Director Aram Gambaryan thanked Congress for continual financial aid to Armenia.
Originally, $55 million were earmarked in the U.S. draft 2006 budget for aid to Armenia. The
House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee voted to raise the figure to $67.5 million and Senate increased it further to $75 million. Georgia and Azerbaijan, Armenia's neighboring Caucasus republics once part of the Soviet Union, will get $67 million and $35 million respectively.