Current attitude to Armenia’s science inadmissible: NAS president

YEREVAN, November 5. /ARKA/. Current attitude to Armenian science cannot be tolerated, as it can lead to collapse, according to Radik Martirosyan, president of the RA National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

“A strong army and economy are necessary for a powerful country. To have a strong economy, a country needs a science in line with modern standards,” Martirosyan said at today’s parliamentary hearings.
He pointed out considerable cut in government allocations for science in 2009, saying the situation would get worse in the coming three years.

According to the NAS president, 8.3bln drams will be assigned for science in 2009, which is 0.85% of total budget allocations, compared to 0.9% in 2008.

Budget allocations for science totaled 6.8bln drams this year.
Martirosyan said Armenia’s neighbors allocate more funds for science than the country, adding the average monthly wage in NAS is 55,000 drams and the government yearly assigns 1mln drams per research worker.

Out of the total sum, 800,000 drams are allocated for wages and social payments and only 200,000 drams are spent on research activities.

European countries annually assign $170,000 for each researcher, in Russia yearly allocations for each scientist reach $16,000, whereas Armenia annually assigns $3,000 per research worker, the NAS president said, the money is not enough to guarantee the country’s scientific progress. Z. Sh. –0--