YEREVAN. – I agree that there is emigration because people are different. Acting Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated this at a briefing with reporters after Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the interim government of Armenia.

To the remark that First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan had stated that 70 thousand people had left the country in four months of this year, acting minister responded as follows: "We have to get the seasonal leavers, who will be back at the end of the [migrant work] season, out of there. Emigration must be counted annually to get the right picture. I do not deny that there is that trend. Of course, some are disappointed with the outcome of the 44-day [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war. Maybe there are also those who are dissatisfied with the work of the government; I do not deny. We need to create an environment where that frustration does not become an occasion to leave, but turns into an energy that they return.”

As for the assertion that many people want to leave the homeland because of the “reproduction” of the ruling party as a result the recent snap parliamentary elections, the acting minister of economy responded: "Our biggest achievement was holding free, fair elections, not who won and who lost. We cemented, made concrete our democratic path. I interact a lot with international organizations; Armenia's most competitive advantage is the free economy in the region.

Yes, there was a trend before the elections that they were emigrating. Our task is to quickly dissipate those worries, to restore the security and investment environment, so that people return and create in the homeland."