240 scientists signed an open letter regarding the 2027 science budget and addressed the open letter to Nikol Pashinyan, Ruben Rubinyan, members of the Government, and members of the National Assembly.

“In the draft 2027 state budget, which the Government approved on October 1, funding for science does not correspond to the amount of investment needed to achieve the Strategy’s targets. The total funding of the “Scientific and technological activity” program increases by about 5%, while the funding of two key directions, scientific grants and targeted programs, remains unchanged at the level of 2026. Since the financing of the project decreased in 2026, even after this increase, it does not reach the level of 2025 in 2027 (33.9 billion drams). In other words, there is no growth for three years. Under these circumstances, it is unclear how to increase the number of researchers to 4,000 in 2027, to form new research groups and to announce new grant tenders.

In the coming years, public funding for research and development must increase significantly and consistently to reach 0.75% of GDP by 2030 and create a basis for the sector’s continued development. If growth is limited to around 5% in 2027, instead of the required minimum of 35%, the required growth in subsequent years should be much steeper, around 50% per year.

The experience of 2026 also deepens our concern. At least 7 billion drams intended for scientific research programs and scientific equipment with the additional budget supplement have not been allocated to date,” the scientists said. in an open letter.

What will be the response to this open letter from Nikol Pashinyan, the scientists were talking about the 7 billion unallocated amount, which has not been allocated until now, what is the reason?

These questions 168.am–corrected Press spokesperson of Nikol Pashinyan Melanya Harutyunyan, in response to which he conveyed:

“I have reported to the Prime Minister about the open letter, I will inform you about the further process. I have no information at the moment, we are aware of the problem, the open letter of the scientists.”

168.am–in a conversation with Spokesperson of the Minister of CGMS HOvannes Yukinyan and said:

“We will address this topic tomorrow.”

Our interlocutor answered the question: in what format will they address it, will they meet with scientists or will a press conference be held?

“We will understand, we will say, probably after tomorrow’s session of the Government.”