SERZH SARGSYAN: WE TRY TO SUPPORT DOMESTIC PRODUCER AND STIMULATE PEOPLE’S WORK

ArmInfo
2009-04-10 00:12:00

ArmInfo. ‘The anti-crisis plan of Armenia does not much differ from
the other states’ anti-crisis programmes despite the fact that
the country’s potential significantly yields to that of the USA,
Europe and Russia’, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an
interview with ‘Russia’ TV channel. According to him, the country’s
authorities try to support the domestic producer as much as possible
and stimulate the work of the people, the entrepreneurs with reduced
profit. ‘Anyway, they should work. I think the enterprises working
even with 1% profit should keep on working’, S.

Sargsyan emphasized and said it does not concern the non-competitive
enterprises as their support is fraught with more drastic
consequences. On this occasion, the Armenian president thanked the
Russian authorities for the credit granted to Armenia ($500 mln
– ed.) and said it will help to create new jobs, fulfill social
programmes, solve the infrastructure problems and carry out house
construction for the people suffered from earthquake (Spitak earthquake
of 1988 – ed.).

Along with it, S. Sargsyan marked availability of a specificity of
influence of the global economic crisis on the country, in particular,
reduction of the flow of private transfers from foreign Diaspora
because of the global crisis, that strongly affected the interests
of many families. Moreover, many people, who annually leave for
Russia for a seasonal work, currently remain jobless, while many of
them, having lost a permanent earning abroad, had to return to the
Motherland. Today, they have to ear their living in Armenia, in view
of which it is necessary to start implementing large infrastructure
projects. The Armenian president thinks it is just necessary to
support the domestic producer and the domestic business, both small
and medium. S. Sargsyan expressed confidence that Armenia will be able
to repay the credit amount, especially as the prices for metals and
chemical products started rising in the world markets over recently.

The Armenian president partially agreed with the opinion that the
crisis is not only the problems but also new opportunities we can
avail of. ‘I think such an opinion is connected with an aspiration
to calm the society and themselves. New potentials mean improvement
of the administrative staff machinery, the management activity and
implementation of reforms, that can be carried out in better times
as well’, the president said. ‘However, I do not think the crisis is
the end of everything. The crisis is problem and difficulties. All
the latest 17-18 years were years of crisis for Armenia, but in this
case the problem is that everything is in crisis, this is a global
process and very undesirable’, Serzh Sargsyan said.