Armenian Info

The Armenian republic has been through a harrowing 120 years of oppression and this along with Russian communist rule has created a nation that requires much help in the form of Economic aid.  To have a true free democracy and the ability to operate on the international stage truly independently Armenia must have a strong economic base.

Currently Armenia receives grants and funding for numerous international organizations including The World Bank and the IMF.  A number of international countries are also loaning the republic funds to attempt to stabilize the economy by reducing the deficit, stabilizing the currency (to everyone’s benefit) and developing Armenian businesses and trade.  The republic receives one and a half billion dollars per year in these two types of financial support.  This support is vital at the moment but the state must not become reliant on it for political and economic reasons.  Politically it s dangerous to rely on certain partner countries for finance as it often can lead to control of international policy by those financers.  Economically we must strive to grow our business base so we can be truly independent.

One of the key goals should be to develop more energy sources ourselves.  Currently Armenia only produces between 30% and 40% of our energy and we are still heavily reliant on Russia.  It is important that these energy supplies should come from multiple sources so no supplier or country has a hold of future.  The recent Iran gas pipe is a perfect example of this wider distribution.

Growth of the economy should be one of the countries priorities the size of the economy is a little over eight and a half billion dollars.  Much of Armenia’s exports are through metals and diamonds however we need to widen our economic base.  The removal of Russian trading has had a deep effect on the economy but ultimately this will be positive.  However its vital we build robust structures and strategies and break free of the central economic model of the Russians.

There have been many successes especially in the early parts of this millennium before we, like all countries, were affected by the global meltdown.  One of the economies greatest successes has to be the control of inflation.  Inflationary pressures often affect “new” economies like the newly established republic.

Agriculture and the services sectors should be prioritized, we can see the dramatic effect being reliant on the construction industry can have.  Currently we are to dependent on metal prices and the construction market and greater development in agriculture and the service sectors should assist this.  We also need to encourage international businesses to Armenia and look for outside top talent to run Armenian businesses.  It will be a rocky road but great strides have been made already.

Armenia sometimes gets a bad press with people who do not know its history or anything about its people.  The following article will try to give some insight in to Armenia as a country and the Armenian culture.

Armenia (in its current borders) itself is not a huge country at just over eleven thousand square miles which is smaller than some of the states in America.  The land has lots of mountains but for the large part is devoid of forestry.

The weather is fantastic with real seasons and we get hot summers but also very cold winters.  Many people mistakenly believe Armenians speak Russian that is not the case we have our own language which over ninety five percent of people speak.  As you are aware by now we now have a self governing Republic after much struggle and almost ninety years of repression.  All legitimate parties want a true democracy and freedom of speech modelled on the governance that the west now takes for granted.

The Armenian people have had their culture wiped away to some extent by the Russian occupation that lasted for seventy years.  In that time the Russians tried to impose their culture on the Armenian people.  Thanks to ARF and organizations like them some semblance of the Armenian culture was preserved and perpetuated through education and planned cultural gatherings.

This culture is particularly well preserved with Armenians across the globe through ARF support, funding and education.  The Armenian culture is very strong in several hot spots across the globe including Canada and the US.  Armenian people tend to form close communities even in these foreign lands.

ARF funded schools, community centers and of course educational papers play a huge role in this.  During repression you must fight to preserve your cultural heritage and there is no doubt that the people of Armenia fought to preserve their heritage.  One thing Armenians have learnt to do is fight hard in the face of over whelming odds.

The focus now should be on ensuring the political process is beyond reproach now that we are self governed.  I fear there is still some work to be done before we reach this point, but all political parties despite their differences should fight hard to make this happen.  Until we can govern ourselves effectively and without corruption we will be vulnerable to repression once again.

The other key factor is the economy.  It needs to be strong and robust but even more important it has to be sustainable without outside assistance.  We’ll cover this in the next post.