“Hovik Abrahamyan is a double economist”, said the Head of the “Alternative” Research Center, economist Tatul Manaseryan referring to the the newly-appointed Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan. Mr. Manaseryan, talking about the management talents of the new Prime Minister, said that in addition to original education, it is important that Hovik Abrahamyan has quite serious experience and it should not be ignored in the management of the economy. “We should expect that the theoretical and practical knowledge should be combined, and today’s economy cannot be raised by only the theory. I think that his cognitive level is high, moreover, in personal sense, we can say that Hovik Abrahamyan had the chance and communicated with worthy people in any field, who are able to bring in their practical involvement in agriculture, industry, and science, and develop the economy. These are very important, the theoretical knowledge is not enough, for already 2 decades, we are trying to imitate the experience and different models of different countries, but the matter is not imitating, but localization. In this aspect, Hovik Abrahamyan will work successfully.” To the question of Aravot.am whether Hovik Abrahamyan was the most acceptable candidate, Mr. Manaseryan said that Abrahamyan’s choice was not accidental. Continuing to describe the new Prime Minister’s personal characteristics, and as a person once working in the National Assembly as Hovik Abrahamyan’s Advisor, Tatul Manaseryan introduced his in the best qualities. “I had worked with Hovik Abrahamyan, I don’t want to hide, to scatter all the illusions, I would like to say that he is quite exacting person, both to his personality and surroundings, and is quite consistent not only in bring forward ideas, but also implementing.” The lack of consistency, in the opinion of Mr. Manaseryan, has been one of our vulnerable places in previous years; we were not short of ideas; wonderful projects were brought forward that were left unfinished. “In this respect, the entire theoretical and practical capacity will be introduced in the development of the country, and I think that we should not be content with recording a single digit economic growth. The world is developing dynamically, whereas Armenia is lacking behind.” To our question that the World Bank has forecast 5% economic growth this year for Armenia, and the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan when introducing the new prime minister, assured that the head of the government would receive the President’s support, whether this does not facilitate Hovik Abrahamyan’s burden of management, which was missing in the case of the former prime minister, Mr. Manaseryan said, “The President’s support is a important matter, nothing should hamper the Prime Minister to actually implement non-standard moves, which are not predictable at this time. There should be a dialogue with the public, and the current prime minister has the ability to listen.” To our question whether the former one did not have such ability, Tigran Sargsyan was always calling for dialogue, Mr. Manaseryan said, “No, no, I mean in the sense of using dialogue, I as Hovik Abrahamyan’s former adviser have noticed it in practice, his consistency is important for us in terms of freedom so that people might feel easy in elections, programs, approaches, and counterargument-related issues to apply what is favorable to him rather than impressing on the outer world. Since the 90’s, our country has tried to impress the outer world in terms of reforms.” To the question of Aravot.am that said by various political figures the number one problem in our country is the oligarchy, whether Hovik Abrahamyan will be successful to struggle and succeed in terms of oligarchs, especially since there were rumors that Tigran Sargsyan has made an attempt to lead such a struggle, but he was not allowed, the economist said, “Hovik Abrahamyan’s weight as a political and public figure is different, I do not think there are many such people in our country, we can count on our fingers of how many such established political figures we have who can talk to oligarchs with “you”. Finally, Armenian oligarchs are also a part of the society; approaches are needed to integrate them in the implementation of these objectives. I think Hovik Abrahamyan may display an adequate attitude with Armenian oligarchs and all masses of the society, and make it serve to the development of our country. The rest depends on them, the Prime Minister, and his team.” Note that Hovik Abrahamyan’s in-law Gagik Tsarukyan is known to the society as not only the PAP leader, but also a big businessman- tycoon.
Nelly BABAYAN
