36 issues and 17 international treaties were put on NA agenda of the four-day sittings, started on February 27.
MPs endorsed the agenda, presented by Artur Baghdasaryan, NA President, and passed to the discussion of the included issues. And before that Tigran Torosyan, NA Vice President, informed that all the factions of the parliament adopted the barbarian attitude towards Armenian monuments in the present territory of Azerbaijan and, in general, a condemning statement of anti-Armenian policy.
The parliament endorsed the draft law on Funeral Organization and Cemetery and Crematory Exploitation in the third reading, and the draft law on Making Amendment to the Law on Civil Service in the second reading.
The state policy in the innovative sphere was defined due to the joint efforts of the government and the Country of Law faction. According to Armen Gevorgyan, Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic 
Development the legislative initiative on Innovative Activities’ State Support is the first step on the way of new technologies’ investment, which is of priority for the state and necessary for the economic development. Mher Shahgeldyan, the co-author of the draft, believes that the principles of the homonymic draft put into circulation 5 years ago chime with this presented document. According to Mr. Shahgeldyan, the scientific-educational development is of strategic significance for Armenia. The MP of the Country of Law thinks that 
despite the implementation of separate programmes, there is no system: it should be completely created. In this sphere the faction has far going goals: to reach a level at which science, innovations and economy will be closely linked, export high technologies. The Standing Committee on Financial-Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs endorsed the draft. Hermine Naghdalyan, Committee member highlighted the passage of the law stimulating innovative activities, regarding it as a good precondition for further development. Making speeches for the presented draft the 
MPs also spoke of a number of issues on scientific and educational spheres and of small finance volumes. Hmayak Hovhannisyan proposes to make an addendum to the draft on the formation order of the sphere regulating plenipotentiary body. In his estimation the fact of withdrawing the National Academy of Sciences out of the draft is also an omission. And Tatul Manaseryan suggests that they should set up a bank of personnel data, to make specialists’ calculation in order to have a right picture of professional know-how. The member of the opposition faction says that this draft is interconnected with a number of laws and that it should be presented in a package.
Artur Baghdasaryan, NA President, qualified this initiative as a “late regret,” as the Country of Law 
faction had put it into circulation in 2001. According to his words, development is out of the question unless there is a distinct state concept. Otherwise, many programmes will remain only on papers: not realized as it is now. Along with development concept on stimulating reforms in the sphere of science it is necessary to create substructures, provide the education-science-production chain link, not ignoring the private sector. NA President also believes that the Academy of Sciences, as well as the young scientists and public organizations on science development should participate in developing the innovation activities. Artur Baghdasaryan thinks that this, as well as other omissions will be amended in future and expresses a hope that in the 2007 budget financial means on state support for innovation activities will already be envisaged. NA President drew the legislators’ attention on the data that more than 500 scientists left Armenia during the last 15 years, and
that there is a drastic fall in the number of doctorate dissertations on technical and exact sciences. Taking into consideration the importance of the issue, Mr.Baghdasaryan thinks necessary to organize parliamentary hearings after endorsing the draft in the first reading. The issue will be discussed at the next sitting of the four-day session. The legislative power’s draft law on Making Amendment to the Law on Energy was submitted to MPs for consideration too.
The four-day sittings will be continued on February 28.
