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On April 18 the Speaker of the National Assembly Samvel Nikoyan met with the students of Gyumri branch of the Armenian State University of Economics.

The Head of the Parliament has invited the students to free talk, noting that the visit to the legislative body, apart from being instructive, is a good experience and a means of getting information. The NA Speaker presented to the students the main functions of the parliament, detailing the peculiarities of the law-making activity, also in the context of power-opposition. It has been noted that the practical work is done in twelve specialized committees. The Head of the Parliament has also touched upon the separation of three wings of power, the principle stipulated by Constitution, explaining the mechanism of checks and balances by budget processes understandable for future economists: the executive power being the parliamentary majority presents the draft budget, the legislative body approves it and later the Government gives a report about the executive paper. Mr Nikoyan also gave details about the relations between the President of the republic and the Parliament.

During the talk with the students the NA Speaker also touched upon the upcoming parliamentary elections and pre-election campaign. Mr Nikoyan deemed the role of the state during the campaign the provision of equal opportunities for all the forces. Most of the questions of the future economists addressed to the Head of the Parliament, related to the adoption of the laws. One of the students has noticed that the frequent change of the laws makes difficult following them. The NA Speaker has noted the main reason of the changes, saying that from the use of the law the incomplete and strong points come out, besides, every Government pursues economic policy harmonious with its ideology. Agreeing with the necessity of distinct formulations of the laws, the Speaker of the Parliament has clarified that all the problems cannot be solved by law, that’s why they are solved more detailed with sub-legislative acts, as in the whole world.

The students who had arrived from Gyumri listened to the NA Speaker’s views on making bigger the communities, solving the problem of employment, number of parties. In response to the question on providing tax privileges for supporting the small and medium business, Mr Nikoyan said: The state has adopted a policy of reaching to minimum the tax privileges. Instead the competitive equal conditions can create favourable conditions for small business.”

The students were also interested in the problem of efficiency of the activity of the parliament. The NA Speaker noted that the people should give the assessment through elections. Though the NA Activity is open for the society and is sometimes criticized, conditioned by that circumstance, there is also not a public sphere, the parliamentary diplomacy. The NA Speaker has recorded that due to effective work the MPs often succeed to prevent the adoption of the anti-Armenian resolutions in the international structures.