One international event remained unnoticed in pre-election Armenia, the importance of which is difficult to overestimate
On January 17-20, in Davos, Switzerland, World Economic Forum kicked off which traditionally gathers the representatives global political and business elite every year. And they gather to discuss global problems and decisions for the solutions to them. In addition, it is no secret that these discussions can largely predict future decisions on global and regional matters.
And what does the RA Government generally think about this, and in particular, the RA Minister of Economic Development and Investment? Let’s emphasize: economic development as well as investments. Based on common sense, the minister of a country that faces major economic development problems and the fact of hunger for investments should not have spared himself during these four days in Davos, moreover, had no time to sleep. Anyway, Armenia’s case is different. It turns out that as written in RA Government letter in response to the RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, official Yerevan has not presented to this conference at all. Minister of Economic Development and Investment, Suren Karayan, illustrates its extremely “reasonable” reason: a “workload” due to which “there was no chance” to attend the Davos forum.
But he also comforts us – the taxpayers – that the government “fully follows the process” and “considers” Davos an important platform but … this is not the only one, said he and added all stakeholders and potential investors to such important investment programs as the new nuclear power state or Armenia-Iran railway. The press release posted on RA Government official website dated January 17 reads that the RA Prime Minister occupying a political position and having the issue of his political future on the agenda must have left for Moscow on an official visit a week later to have a political discussion with “a big fat zero” Dmitry Medvedev about not more and not less “Armenian-Russian cooperation agenda.”
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At present, this visit has happened which as they say, only the agreements on permit of access of Russians to Armenia without any obstacle without a travel passport is left as a result which some circles are trying to present as a “tremendous” achievement due to which tourism is going to report “unprecedented” growth in Armenia. And Armenia skips the regular forum in Davos, and this is already not the first year … Certainly, it is not difficult to see the hierarchical arrangement of the political priorities of the RA Government actions according to which the “workload” forces to go to one place but not the other. The brief reference in the publication of RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (which incidentally is not refuted until now and apparently, is undeniable) shows a pitiful picture. During the first nine months of 2016, the direct investments in Armenia amounted to just USD 92 million.
While in the neighboring Azerbaijan, for the same period, this indicator is 59 times higher: USD 5 billion 439 million. Our other neighbor Georgia has attracted USD 1 billion 625 million. Look, Georgia was presented at the level of the Prime Minister, while Azerbaijan – president’s level. Well, in Armenia, perhaps either the “workload” is too much or it is directed towards the European “black hole” where without any result and effect, they are gone and lost…
The last two inglorious decades of the USSR clearly show what happens when rational economic policy and politics, in general, are turned into a permanent articulation process of meaningless and stupid Komsomol mottos. And ahead of the elections, one rhetorical question remains hung up: do they truly want to gather votes with this “active”? Indeed, the crisis of political responsibility in Armenia has entered a new phase, the suitable name of which I will leave to the reader.
