The second meeting with the Australian Armenian Community on the economic development of Armenia (Goal 8)

July 15, 2021
3:00 p.m. Yerevan time (GMT+4)
2:00 p.m. Moscow time (GMT+3)
9:00 p.m. Sydney time (GMT+10)
12:00 p.m. London time (BST)
The second meeting with the Australian Armenian Community on the economic development of Armenia (Goal 8)

Panelists

  • Michael Carapiet

    Businessman and Company Director

  • Bakur Melkonyan

    Founder of “Art Lunch” and “Popock guest houses”, Co-founder of Mantashov Entrepreneurs Union

  • Garry Simonian

    Restauranteur (Platinum Restaurant Group), Property Developer (Platinum Property Advisors) & Finance Operator (Lightning Fast Finance)

Moderator

  • Movses Makaryan

    Representative of The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of The Republic of Armenia in Australia

The Armenian government must establish a sovereign fund that will be funding unicorn startups worldwide using the local pool of talents of the Armenian IT industry, software engineering, and others, pioneering with Armenian-owned businesses locally and globally. Online businesses should be one to focus on. The other focus should be making Armenia a net exporter, emphasizing quality, not quantity. Tax subsidies and incentives should be developed for such entrepreneurs.

After the post-Covid economic depression, the world economy is undergoing reforms. To catch up with the world reforms Armenia needs to make reforms in its tax system.

Investing and emphasizing the renewable energy sector. That is one field that will ensure Armenia’s independence in the energy sector. Social housing is another field that will trigger more repatriation. Religious tourism has to be emphasized using direct flights from-to Asia.

Public-private collaboration for a common goal has to take place if we want any reforms. The internal finances in Armenia will not be enough to cover those reforms. Therefore investments from offshore, Armenian or non-Armenian should be attracted.

A lot of problems Armenia is facing comes from the public governance, which is not simply bad, it’s non-existent. This comes from the very days Armenia became independent. It was convinced Armenia was not ready or prepared for independence. Therefore it did not know what to do with it.

Effective governance is what we need. Currently, we are negotiating with the Minister of Finance about suggestions and mechanisms for effective governance developed by a group of people. But things should not depend on separate persons and acquaintances. There should be mechanisms.

The other important step towards which we are working is creating the “Ararat Values Fund”, which aims at raising and spreading the national ideology. National ideology has to be at the core of Armenia’s governance regardless of who comes to power. How to bring projects to life? We need to draw mechanisms for that – it can not be left on the level of persons.

Establishing three languages in Armenia will be beneficial. It will encompass markets that use those three languages. But that needs to be inserted through the education system. Nonetheless, with the development of AI, there is a strong belief among the specialists that languages are no longer necessary for communication, businesses, and the rest.

More important than having three languages in Armenia, is enhancing Armenian as a language in Diaspora. Language is one thing that preserves Armenian-ness, and that is disappearing.

We need to create and input systems to enhance labor productivity. Maybe taxes on smoking and liquor will help.

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