US Allocates $100 million in Security Aid to Azerbaijan in 2018-19
by Emil Sanamyan
July 17, 2019
The Trump Administration has substantially ramped up security assistance to Azerbaijan, amounting to more than $100 million in fiscal years (FY) 2018-19, according to budget data compiled by the Security Assistance Monitor, part of the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank. The assistance is offered in the context of U.S. policy to increase pressure on Iran and focuses on Azerbaijan’s Iranian border, but it also has implications for Armenia.
According to the data, under Section 333 “Building Partner Capacity” programs implemented by the Department of Defense (DoD), Azerbaijan was due to receive $58.6 million in FY 2018 and $42.9 million in FY2019. By comparison U.S. security aid to Azerbaijan in FY 2016-17 did not exceed $3 million a year.
As DoD notified Congress on April 27, 2018, it was spending $47.5 million on Azerbaijan’s “Southern Border Security: communications, electronics, construction, maritime interdiction equipment, and vehicles,” $11.1 million on “Maritime Security for the Capsian (sic!) Sea: communications, electronics, construction, maritime interdiction equipment, and vehicles,” and $80,000 on “human rights training.”
Read more at https://armenian.usc.edu/us-allocates-100-million-in-security-aid-to-azerbaijan/
Trump’s Budget Cuts Armenia Assistance by Almost 70 Percent
May 24, 2017
The budget unveiled Monday by the Trump administration will see a drastic 70 percent–69.6 percent–cut in aid to Armenia over the fiscal year 2017 budget, which allocated $22.4 million in assistance to Armenia. Trump’s budget is calling for a $6.8 million aid package to Armenia.
“We are troubled by President Trump’s ill-advised and misguided proposal to sharply cut aid to Armenia. His budget recommendation underscores the need to work with Congressional appropriators to reverse these reductions, while redoubling our efforts to empower Armenia’s aid-to-trade transition,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
“Building on 2015’s Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and leveraging the five hundred million dollars in new U.S. investments in Armenia, we need to put in place a badly-needed Double Tax Treaty, launch direct Los Angeles to Yerevan flights, secure an MCC Science and Technology education grant for Armenian schools, and undertake other targeted commercial initiatives to strengthen the U.S.-Armenia bilateral economic relationship,” added Hamparian.
Read more at https://anca.org/trumps-budget-cuts-armenia-assistance-by-almost-70-percent/
