Expert says Armenian authorities not prepared people for peace

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

War and corruption are interrelated, that’s why the top ten corrupt countries are those in war. For example, the generals use the war for their own goals. The remarks about Armenia's current problems were made by the Secretary of the Armenian National Congress faction Aram Manukyan.

He said that because of blockade, imported goods cost more expensive by 30 percent in Armenia with no railway. "In terms of the growth rate we are lagging behind by 15-20 times. Someone should talk about this,” he said.

Manukyan noted that the Armenian parliament has approved three new credit agreements,“ and the external debt of Armenia reached $6 billion, which constitute 60 percent of GDP.”

Answering the question of how the Armenian authorities should start tackling the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, Manukyan said that, first of all, the executive body should advocate for a staged solution, then the coalition should join it, and after that – the press and the public should participate in the process.

“As a result, the willingness to support reconciliation will be supported by the international community. The authorities have not prepared the people for peace yet,” he underlined.

The Armenian political scientist Armen Grigoryan also talked about the problems of today's Armenia. He said that it is necessary to eliminate the monopolies in the country. As an example Grigoryan noted that after the mobile operator VivaCell-MTS entered the market, ArmenTel lost the monopoly in Armenia’s telecommunications industry and the prices of mobile services fell several times.

Grigoryan also linked emigration from Armenia with the economical problems.

According to the International Economic Forum, a quarter of people born in Armenia no longer live in the country.

Moreover, the UN Population Fund states that over the past 25 years the number of emigrants from Armenia amounted to more than 1 million people. Such a high indicator was not recorded neither in any other republic of the former USSR, nor in the countries of region.