Armenia is at a deadlock today: Vartan Oskanian

PAP MP Vartan Oskanian wrote on his Facebook page:
“Armenia is at a deadlock today. ON the one hand, in order to get out of this bog, I’d say from this degradation deep reforms are unavoidable. ON the other hand, people on which process and realization of reforms depend, aren’t interested to realize the reforms, as they’re going to endanger their political and economical monopolies. To carry this political monopoly today the Armenian nation pays a huge sum.”
Reforms first of all are done for the people, to provide its welfare and make their day worthy. But, turned out, that necessary outer, including support and investments to Diaspora depend on those reforms. What I have said let me bring in examples.
1. “Millenium Challenge” program: the program finally closed at the beginning of this year, taking with it around $300 million, which was to be invested in the development of Armenia’s infrastructures, which was mainly to help rural and frontier regions. The program closed, as Armenia couldn’t satisfy the criteria of strict management and democracy brought forward by the program.
2. European Union donors conference: the conference was to launch during this year in Brussels and about $1 billion grant promises were expected from EU members. It was postponed because parliamentary elections weren’t appropriately held, as well as because of being behind the reforms. Not they say that the conference can be launched after presidential elections and one of the preconditions is free and fair elections.
3. Association Agreement with European Union: signing of this document will provide enormous privileges to Armenia from free trade zone to free move of RA citizens from Armenia to EU and inside EU. The term of the agreement depends on the will of Armenia’s state agencies and definitely come of the interest of people in Armenia. For the moment’s being Armenia is on the last place in the sense of development and according to EU Commissioner for Enlargement “with this process Armenia can’t even dream of bringing the agreement to its end at the end of 2013.”
4. Foreign direct investments: at the first semester of this year as compared to the previous year the decline of direct investments was 40%, And in the second semester of this year it was 60%. I touched upon some decline reasons in my previous statement. On the basis of all that lies absence of reforms and investor’s skepticism towards the country’s progress.
5. Involvement of Diaspora: this condition in Armenia and absence of reforms had their influence on our compatriots in Diaspora, despite the existence of national factor, which very often was decisive. Today it’s obvious, that big benefactor of Diaspora, contrary to active charitable activity in the countries they live and donations to the institutions, don’t have any prominent participation in the development of Armenia (with rare exception) neither in the form of donations nor by investments.
These are just the obvious phenomena. In fact, our nation pays a huge sum to save the political monopoly by any means. It’s high time, that all the people realized, that this can’t lead us to something good. It’s sad that realization of reforms, creation of counterbalances as a result of it, can register an enormous positive change in Armenia’s social and economical life. Not speaking of the fact, that as a result we not only lose what I’ve enumerated above but more thing would have been added to it. Nowadays thousands of our compatriots are in the mood of leaving the country. They’re waiting what developments will take place in the coming months to make their final decision.
I’m sure, our nations hope towards the country and their own future can be restored.”